
iill 







i PR: 




Class 
Book^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE HISTORY 



Saint Augustine, Florida 



AN INTRODUCTORY ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY SPANISH 
AND FRENCH ATTEMPTS AT EXPLORATION 
AND SETTLEMENT IN THE TERRI- 
TORY OF FLORIDA 

TOGETHER WITH 

SKETCHES OF EVENTS AND OBJECTS OF INTEREST CONNECTED WITH THE 
OLDEST TOWN IN THE UNITED STATES 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 

A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE CLIMATE AND 

ADVANTAGES OF SAINT AUGUSTINE 

AS A HEALTH RESORT 



BY 

WILLIAM W. DEWHURST 



j:^ 



);■ 



NEW YORK 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

182 Fifth Avenue 

188 I 



> 






Copyright 

iSSi 

By WILLIAM W. DEWHURST 






PREFACE. 



This brief outline of the history of one of the most interesting 
portions of our country, together with the sketches of the cele- 
brated characters and memorable events which have rendered the 
town of St. Augustine famous throughout the world, is offered to 
the public in the hope and expectation that the information here- 
in contained may supply the desire, felt by an ever-increasing 
number of its citizens and visitors, to be better informed as to the 
early history of a place so justly celebrated. 

The desire of the author has been to condense and render ac- 
cessible to the general reader the very interesting but elaborate 
accounts of the early writers concerning some of the more nota- 
bl*^ events connected with the early settlement and defense of 
St. Augustine. 

Copious quotations have been borrowed, and the quaint lan- 
guage of the early historians has been retained as peculiarly ap- 
propriate to the subject and locality described. 

The traditions and chronicles in possession of the descendants 
of the early settlers have been sought with a desire to preserve 
these fragments of history before it shall be too late. Already those 
conversant with the events of the early years of the century have 
passed from the stage of life. 

iii 



iv PREFACE. 

The reader who desires to become better informed as to the 
events noticed in this volume should consult the narrative of De 
Soto, by a Knight of Elvas, the works of Cabefa de Vaca, Garci- 
lasa de la Vega, Laudonnere, Bartram, Romans, Vignoles, Roberts, 
De Brahm, Stork, Forbes, Darby, Williams, and Fairbanks, to all 
of whom the author is under obligation. 

St. Augustine, Florida, November, 1880. 



y 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. PAGE 

Introductory i 

CHAPTER II. 
The Discovery of Florida 3 

CHAPTER HI. 
Expeditions of Muruelo, Cordova, Alminos, Ay lion, and Narvaez 7 

CHAPTER IV. 
Hernando De Soto. — An Account of his March through Florida 18 

CHAPTER V. 
Huguenot Settlement under Ribault 26 

CHAPTER VI. 
Second Huguenot Settlement under Laudonnere 29 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Unfortunate Expedition under Ribault. — Founding of St. Augus- 
tine by Menendez, 1565. — Attack upon the French Settlement on 
the St. Johns River 37 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Shipwreck of Ribault's Fleet. — Massacre by Menendez 46 

CHAPTER IX. ^ 
Expedition and Retaliation of De Gourges 57 

CHAPTER X. 
Return of Menendez. — Attempt to Christianize the Indians. — Attack 

upon St. Augustine by Sir Francis Drake. — Murder of the Friars. . 66 

V 



Vi CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER XL ' page 
Plunder of the Town by Captain Davis. — Removal of the Yemassee 
Indians. — Construction of the Fort. — Building of the First Sea- 
wall. — Attacks of Governor Moore and Colonel Palmer 79 

CHAPTER XII. 
Oglethorpe's Attack. — Bombardment of the Fort and Town, — Capture 
of the Highlanders at Fort Mosa. — Old Fort at Matanzas. — Mon- 
teano's Invasion of Georgia 89 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Town when delivered to the English. — Fort San Juan De Pinos. — 

St. Augustine as described by the English Writers in 1765 to 1775. 100 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Settlement of New Smyrna by the Ancestors of a Majority of the 
Present Population of St. Augustine. — The Hardships endured by 
these Minorcan and Greek Colonists. — Their Removal to St. Au- 
gustine under the Protection of the English Governor 113 

CHAPTER XV. 
Administration of Lieut. -Governor Moultrie. — Demand of the People for 
the Rights of Englishmen. — Governor Tonyn burning the Effigies 
of Adams and Hancock. — Colonial Insurgents confined in the 
Fort. — Assembling of the First Legislature.— Commerce of St. Au- 
gustine under the English. — Recession of the Province to Spain. . . 122 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Return of the Spaniards. — Completion of the Cathedral. — The Oldest 
Church Bell in America. — The Governor's Desire to People the 
Province with Irish Catholics. — Some Official Orders exhibiting 
the Customs of the Spaniards. — Unjustifiable Interference of the 
United States, during the " Patriot War." — Florida an Unprofit- 
able Possession. — Erection of the Monument to the Spanish Consti- 
tution 129 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Florida Ceded to the United States.— Attempt of the Spanish Governor 

to carry away the Records. — Description of St. Augustine when 

Transferred. — Population in 1830. — Town during the Indian 

War. — Osceola and Coa-cou-che, — A True Account of the Dungeon 



CONTENTS, Vii 

PAGE 

in the Old Fort, and the Iron Cages. — The Indians brought to St. 
Augustine in 1875 143 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
St. Augustine as it used to be. — Customs. — The Oldest Structure in the 
United States. — Present Population. — Objects of Interest. — Build- 
ings Ancient and Modern. — St. Augustine during the Rebellion. — 
Climate. — Advantages as a Health Resort 161 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



A UNIVERSAL desire exists to learn the origin and history of our 
ancestors. Even before the art of writing was perfected, bards 
perpetuated the traditions of the early races of men by recitations 
of mingled facts and fables at the periodical assemblies. These 
peripatetics were ever welcomed and supported by the people, and 
doubtless preserved many of the facts of history. 

Unfortunately, among the Spanish knights, who at various 
times essayed the conquest of Florida, few were found to desert 
the shrine of Mars for that of Clio. While there are several val- 
uable accounts of the Spanish occupation, the scope of the histories 
is narrow and unreliable on many most interesting subjects, and 
on others of no importance they are often most diffuse. Owing to 
the vicissitudes of the occupation of St. Augustine, there are few 
traditions. It is possible that the Spanish antiquarian may at 
some future day develop a rich mine of history in searching the 
ancient archives of that nation and of the Catholic Church. Val- 
uable acquisitions have been made in this field of literature by 
the labors of the learned and genial Buckingham Smith, a resi- 
dent of St Augustine. 



2 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Two impulses prompted the early Spanish explorers in Florida. 
The first was a hope of finding gold, as it had been found in Mex- 
ico and South America. A second and probably more ostensi- 
ble motive, was the desire and hope of extending the Catholic 
faith among the inhabitants of the New World. 

The result of all their hardships and labors has proved so bar- 
ren that even in our day it is impossible to contemplate the 
slaughters and disappointments of the brave men who invaded 
and who defended these ancient homes, without a pang of regret. 



[1492-1498-] 
CHAPTER II. 

THE DISCOVERY OF FLORIDA. 

The honor of having discovered Florida has been assigned by 
different writers to Columbus, Cabot, and De Leon. 

In 1492, Columbus terminated his venturesome voyage across 
the Atlantic by landing at the island of St. Salvador, so called 
by the great Genoese explorer in remembrance of his salvation. 
It is said that from this island his people, on his return from 
Europe, ventured with him to the shores of Florida, being im- 
pressed, as were the Aborigines, with a belief that the continent 
possessed waters calculated to invigorate and perpetuate youth 
and vitality. 

The date 1497 is assigned as the year in which Amerigo Ves- 
pucci discovered the western continent. Vespucci was encouraged 
by Emanuel, King of Portugal, and, though probably lacking 
the inspiring genius and sublime courage of Columbus, through 
the accident of fortune he has perpetuated his name in the desig- 
nation of half a hemisphere. Doubtless, Vespucci was the first to 
reach the mainland of the western continent, as Columbus did 
not touch the mainland until his third voyage in 1498, when he 
landed at the mouth of the Orinoco in South America. So 
entirely unsuspicious was the world at this time of a second con- 
tinent, that the transcendent genius of Columbus never suspected 
the magnitude of his discovery, and he died in the belief that he 
had landed on the eastern shore of Asia. 

3 



4 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, [1498-15 12 

The next to essay a voyage to the New World was also a native 
of Southern Europe. John Cabot, the son of Giovanni Gabota, 
a native of Venice, who had settled in Bristol, was commissioned 
by Henry the Seventh of England to sail on a voyage of discovery 
and conquest. Though the inception and authority for the 
expedition antedated the sailing of Columbus by a year, Cabot 
did not leave England until May, 1498. His landing on Amer- 
ica was at or near the river St. Lawrence, from whence he 
sailed southward along the coast, landing only for observation, 
and making no attempt to form a settlement. It is doubtful if 
Cabot ever sailed as far south as Florida, though it is claimed 
that to him belongs the honor of its discovery. 

Fourteen years afterward, the first landing was made on the 
sandy shores of Florida, and possession claimed in the name of 
the King of Spain. 

The mystic fountain of youth, first pictured in the days of 
mythology, whose waters would stay the devastating march of 
time, endow perpetual youth, even restore vigor to the decrepitude 
of age, was said to exist in the New World. 

This fable, with which the European had become familiar from 
an Egyptian or Hellenic source, found confirmation in the tradi- 
tions of the Indians of the Caribbean Islands. To the mind of the 
Spanish knight, eager to continue his youthful prowess and 
the enjoyment of the adjuncts of power and authority already 
achieved, the belief, thus strengthened by concurrence of a tradi- 
tion in the New World, seemed an authentic reality, and the suf- 
ficient foundation for great labor and sacrifice. 

In this materialistic age we may laugh at the credulousness of 
the Spanish chevalier, whose faith in the story of an Indian girl 
led him to expend his wealth and sacrifice his life in such a 



I5I2] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 5 

chimerical search ; yet the history of our own day will recount 
equal faith and as fruitless ventures. 

Juan Ponce de Leon seems to have been a person of influence 
in Spain, possessed of a unique character, a chivalrous nature, 
and a comprehensive and trained mind. Born in an age when 
personal valor and knightly habits were the surest paths to dis- 
tinction and authority, his career seems to have been that of an 
adventurer. When past the meridian of life, he landed in the 
Bahamas seeking for the spring of youth. In vain was his search, 
but his hopes and his ardor were undaunted. "Upon the main- 
land the wished-for waters flowed as a river, on whose banks lived 
the rejuvenated races in serene idleness and untold luxuriance." 
Leaving the Bahamas he steered northwest for the coast. While 
some accounts make his first landing at a spot north of St. Au- 
gustine, it is more probable that his course was to the west of the 
Bahama Islands, and that he first disembarked at or near the 
southernmost part of Florida, at a place called Punta Tanchi, 
now Cape Sable. 

It was on March 27ih, 1512, Palm Sunday (Pasqua Florida), 
and from this accidental date of discovery did the country receive 
its name, and not from its abundance of flowers. While the Latin 
adjective floridus signifies "full of flowers," soldiers of fortune 
like De Leon did not make a practice of using the Latin tongue 
except in their litany. After erecting a cross, celebrating a solemn 
mass, and proclaiming the sovereignty of the Spanish crown, De 
Leon coasted along the Florida shore into the Gulf of INIexico, 
making various attempts to penetrate the interior of the country. 
In this he was unable to succeed, owing to the swampy nature of 
the land, and its barrenness of food products. After the loss of 
many of his men, the rest, greatly suffering for food, re-embarked. 



6 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. [1512-1516 

According to some historians De Leon returned to Spain, and de- 
manded to be made governor of the new dominions ; while others 
declare that he withdrew only to the islands, from whence he sent 
a description of the newly-discovered province, and begged a grant 
of the same. His request was acceded to by the Spanish crown 
on condition that he should colonize the country. 

Accordingly, in 15 16 he returned with two vessels^ but his oc- 
cupancy being disputed by the Indians, De Leon was mortally 
wounded in the first encounter. His followers, being dispirited 
by the loss of their leader in a strange and uninviting land, re- 
turned on board their vessels and sailed for Cuba. Here a mon- 
ument was erected to the memory of Juan Ponce de Leon, on 
which is inscribed the following eloquent and deserved epitaph : 
*' Mole sub hac, fortis requiescunt, ossa Leonis qui vicit factis 
nomina magna suis." 

Though De Leon died in disappointment, never having tasted 
the fabled waters of which he came in search, his name will ever 
be associated with the country he christened, and many a wasted 
consumptive who has regained a lost vigor and health under the 
assuasive influences of Florida's climate will give a kindly thought 
of remembrance and regret as he recalls him who first visited 
Florida, a seeker after healing waters. 



[I5I7.] 
CHAPTER III. 

EXPEDITIONS OF MURUELO, CORDOVA, ALMINOS, AYLLON, AND NARVAEZ. 

In the next twenty years there were many captains who under- 
took voyages for the exploration and subjugation of Florida. 

It must be remembered that at this time, and until the begin- 
ning of the eighteenth century, the grand divisions of North 
America were known only as Florida and Canada. 

Diego Muruelo, a Spanish adventurer, by profession a pilot, is 
said to have sailed from Cub|, and returning with gold and pre- 
cious stones obtained from the Florida Indians* spread glowing 
reports of the country. These reports may have influenced 
the home government, as about this time a Dominican, " Ber- 
nardo de Mesa," was chosen Bishop of Cuba ''including P'lor- 
ida." 

Fernandez de Cordova landed on the coast, but was driven off 
by the Indians, and returned to Cuba, where he died of his 
wounds. The famous Bernal Diaz was a member of this expe- 
dition. 

One De Alminos, a member of Cordova's party, made such a 
favorable report of the country and the advantages to be derived 
from a possession of the same that he induced Francisco de Geray, 
the governor of Jamaica, to furnish him with three vessels, with 
which he returned to the coast ; but was unsuccessful in his 
attempts to make any acquisition of wealth or power in Florida, 

7 



8 HISTORY OF ST, AUGUSTINE, [1517-1520 

though slight progress was made in the survey of its coast. De 
Geray, however, trusting in the reports given him, applied to the 
home government to be made Adelantado of Florida, though his 
request is said to have been denied. 

Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, an auditor of St. Domingo, a rich 
and learned man, formed a company with six other inhabitants 
of the island of Hispaniola, for the purpose of securing Indians 
to work as slaves in the mines of Mexico. 

In the humane laws decreed by the Spanish crown against the 
enslaving of its Indian subjects, an exception had been made 
against the Caribs, or Cannibals ; these Indians being considered 
especially barbarous and deserving of castigation, 

De Ayllon falsely declaring that the inhabitants of the main- 
land were Caribs, set sail in 1520 with two vessels, and directed 
his course to the east coast of Florida. He landed in the prov- 
ince of Chicora m South Carolina, where the Indians were ruled 
by a chief named Datha who was a giant. His gigantic stature 
had been attained by a process of stretching which elongated the 
bones while a child. This practice was applied only to those of 
royal race. 

The simple Floridians at first fled from the vessels and their 
pale-faced occupants. The Spaniards, however, by kind treat- 
ment succeeded in assuring the Indians, and, finally, induced 
the cacique and a hundred and thirty attendants on board the 
ships. These were at once secured, and the ships set sail for His- 
paniola. It is also said that, as a parting salute, De Ayllon fired 
the cannon of the ships into the crowd assembled on the shores ; 
but this inhuman act is not authenticated, and the treachery of 
which he certainly was guilty is sufficiently execrable to account 
for that remorse which he is said to have suffered afterward. One 



1520-1521] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. g 

vessel was lost on the voyage, and the cargo of the other was sold 
upon their arrival at St. Domingo. The North American In- 
dians, however, have never submitted like the African to the ser- 
vile yoke. The Christianizing and civilizing blessings of slavery 
have never been appreciated by these Indians. This body of 
North American captives, the first which history mentions, set an 
example which has been followed by their unfortunate descend- 
ants. No promises nor hopes could influence these to forget 
their heritage of freedom. Refusing all sustenance, borne down 
by sorrow and home-sickness, to a man they chose death rather 
than slavery. 

Charles the Fifth had been so affected by the eloquent and ear- 
nest appeals of that humane and nobly pious Bishop of Chiapa, 
Bartholomi de las Casas, that he issued decrees visiting his anger 
and the severest penalties upon the Spanish governors who, by 
their barbarous tyranny, had made the Indians of the New World 
to detest Christianity, and tremble at the very name of Christian. 
Though these ordinances appear often to have been disregarded, 
Vasquez's perfidious treatment of the natives seems to have been 
disapproved at Court ; for when he applied to the Spanish Crown 
for the governorship of the province, his request was granted on 
condition that he should not enslave the Indians. 

Tempted by the profit of his first venture, he disregarded this 
provision of his grant, and returned to secure a second cargo. 
The Indians were equal to the occasion, and met the whites with 
their own methods. Having decoyed the Spaniards away from 
the shore, the Indians fell upon them and killed two hundred. 
The Spaniards after this attack put to sea, and soon after encoun- 
tering a severe storm were shipwrecked, and are all reported to 
have perished except Vasquez himself, who was picked up and 



lO HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. [1521-1528 

saved, only to pass the remainder of his life in misery and remorse. 
His unhappiness may have had for its cause his disgrace and the 
displeasure of the king, which he is said to have incurred. 
Another account says he was among the killed. 

Despising the ignorant and untrained races of Indians and 
overweeningly confident in the mighty influence of the name of 
his king and the power of the Spanish arms, Pamphilo de Nar- 
vaez, having obtained from Charles the Fifth a grant of all the 
lands from Cape Florida to the River of Palms in Mexico, deter- 
mined to extend the Spanish rule and the Catholic faith. Nar- 
vaez was also actuated by a desire to retrieve his own disgrace. 
Having been sent to Mexico by Valasquez^ the Governor of Cuba, to 
supersede Cortez, the latter had by a sudden attack seized Narvaez 
and assumed the command of his forces, who were doubtless only 
too willing to serve under so gallant and successful a commander. 

Returning to Spain, Narvaez was unable to obtain redress for 
the injuries sustained at the hands of Cortez, but was placated by 
the Commission of Adelantado of Florida. 

On the 1 2th day of April, 1538, he sailed from St. Jago de 
Cuba, with four hundred men and forty horses. Landing near 
what is now Charlotte Harbor, he took formal possession of the 
country in the .name of the King of Spain. 

The houses of the Indians, already evacuated, were in sight of 
the bay. Proceeding inland, he came upon a town located on 
another and larger bay (Tampa Bay), where the Indians offered 
him corn. 

Here was promulgated a manifesto prepared by Narvaez, in the 
Spanish language, abounding in arrogant assumption of power 
and superiority, intended to awe the Indians, and secure at once 
their allegiance and homage. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1 1 

This curious document is still extant among the Archives of 
the Seville Chamber of Commerce. The proclamation throws 
such a light upon the estimate which the Spaniards had of the 
rights and condition of the Indians, of their own authority, its 
source, and the purposes for which it was to be exercised, that a 
considerable extract is quoted. 

''A summons to be made to the inhabitants of the countries 
which extend between the River of Palms and Cape Florida : 

"In the name of his Catholic and Imperial Majesty, ever au- 
gust King, and Emperor of all the Romans ; in the name of 
Dona Juana, his mother ; King of Spain ; Defender of the 
Church, always victorious, and always invincible, the conqueror 
of barbarous nations ; I, Pamphilo de Narvaez, their servant, and 
Ambassador and Captain, cause to be known to you in the best 
manner I am able." How God created the world and charged St. 
Peter to be sovereign of all men in whatever country they might 
be born, God gave him the whole world for his inheritance. One 
of his successors made a gift of all these lands to the Imperial 
Sovereigns, the King and Queen of Spain, so that the Indians 
are their subjects. After claiming their allegiance he closes with 
the following invitation to embrace the Catholic faith, which is 
more after the pagan than Christian order : 

"You will not be compelled to accept Christianity, but when 
you shall be well informed of the truth you will be made Chris- 
tians. If you refuse, and delay agreeing to what I have proposed 
to you, I testify to you that, with God's assistance, I will march 
against you, arms in hand. I will make war upon you from all 
sides, and by every possible means. I will subject you to the 
yoke and obedience of the Church and His Majesty. I will ob- 
tain possession of your wives and children ; I will reduce you to 



12 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

slavery. I notify you that neither His Majesty, nor myself, nor 
the gentlemen who accompany me will be the cause of this, but 
yourselves only." That the Indians gave little heed to the claims 
and threats of this haughty knight is evident from the sad result 
of his expedition. While resting at the village about Tampa, 
Narvaez was shown some wooden burial cases, containing the 
remains of chiefs, and ornamented with deerskins elaborately 
painted and adorned with sprigs of gold. Learning that the 
gold came from farther north, at a place called Appalache, Nar- 
vaez immediately ordered his men to march thither. With more 
judgment or prophetic wisdom his treasurer, Cabe9a de Vaca, en- 
deavored in vain to dissuade him. Having distributed a small 
quantity of biscuit and pork as rations, he set out on the ist of 
May with three hundred men and forty horses. They marched 
through a desolate country, crossing one large river and meeting 
only one settlement of Indians until the 17th of June, when they 
fell in with a settlement, where they were well received and sup- 
plied with corn and venison. The Spaniards learning that this 
tribe were enemies of the Appalacheans, exchanged presents and 
obtained guides to direct them to the Appalachean town. This 
they reached on the 25th, after a fatiguing march through swamps 
and marshes, and at once attacked the inhabitants without 
warning, and put them all to the sword. 

The town consisted of comfortable houses well stocked with 
corn, skins, and garments made from bark cloth. Not finding 
the wealth he had expected, and being subject to the repeated at- 
tacks of the Indians, Narvaez, after a month's rest at Appalache, 
divided his command into three companies, and ordered them to 
scour the country. 

These companies returning, after an unsuccessful search for 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1 3 

gold or food, the Spaniards continued their march toward the 
north and west, carrying with them in chains the Indian chief 
captured at Appalache. This plan of securing the chief of an 
Indian nation or tribe, and forcing him to march with the troops 
as a guide and hostage, seems to have been adopted by each of 
the Spanish commanders, and always with disastrous results. 
The sight of an Indian chief in chains aroused a feeling of out- 
raged friendship wherever they passed, and gave a premonition of 
the servile fate that would be assigned to their race whenever the 
Spaniards obtained the dominion. This captive urged on the In- 
dians to harass and persistently follow up the marching army, 
influencing even tribes that were inimical to himself. 

The march of Narvaez through the western part of Florida con- 
tinued until fall, with an unvarying succession of attacks and 
skirmishes at every halt, and often pitched battles at the towns 
that lay in his path. Little progress was made on their journey, 
owing to the uncertainty of their course, the unproductive and 
difficult nature of the country traversed, and the unremitting at- 
tacks and obstacles opposed by the wily Indians, who were ever 
on the watch to pick off man or beast, and prevent the collection 
of supplies. 

Disheartened at the continued losses sustained by his army, 
and despairing of ever reaching by land the Spanish settlements 
in Mexico, Narvaez, having reached the banks of a large river, 
determined to follow it to its mouth, and take to the sea. 

Slowly they moved down the river, and arrived at its mouth in 
a sadly distressed condition. Despair lent them an energy that 
was fanned to a burning zeal by the hopes of being able to reach 
their friends and salvation on the shores of the same waters before 
their view. A smith in their party declared that he could build a 



14 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

forge, and with bellows made of hides, and the charcoal they 
could supply abundantly, he forged from their swords and accou- 
trements bolts and nails for building boats. 

Diligently they worked, incited by the memory of all their hard- 
ships and perils, and the joyous hope of safe delivery. Such was 
their energy and determination, that in six weeks they constructed 
from the material at hand, five large boats capable of holding fifty 
men each. For cordage they twisted ropes from the manes and 
tails of their horses, together with the fiber of plants ; their sails 
were made from their clothing, and from the hides of their horses 
they made sacks to hold water. 

With these frail and clumsily constructed crafts, open boats 
loaded almost to the water's edge, and without a navigator in the 
party, or provisions for a single week did this little army of des- 
perate men set out on the open sea. Narvaez commanded one 
boat. The others were under the command of his captains, one 
of whom, Cabe9a de Vaca, has preserved to us the account of this 
fatal expedition. 

De Vaca gives a long and minute account of their voyage, and 
the hardships and misfortunes they underwent until they were all 
shipwrecked, and out of the two hundred and forty who started on 
the return only fifteen were alive. Narvaez himself was blown off 
from the shore while almost alone in his boat and never again 
heard of. Only these four are known certainly to have been 
saved, Cabe9a de Vaca, the treasurer of the expedition. Cap- 
tain Alonzo Castillo, Captain Andreas Orantes, and a negro or 
Turk, named Estcvanico. 

These managed to preserve their lives, and attain an influence 
among the Indians bj pretending to a knowledge of physic, and 
a supernatural origin. Their method of practice was unique, 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1 5 

and as universal in its application to every form of disease as that 
of the celebrated Dr. Sangrado. It consisted in marking the 
patient with the sign of the cross, repeating over him a paternos- 
ter or Ave Maria, and then calling upon him to assure his 
comrades that he was entirely healed. The fee for this skillful 
treatment was the customary reward among the Indians for the 
services of the Medicine Man, the transfer of all the worldly pos- 
sessions of the patient to the physician in exchange for restored 
health. The Indians thus despoiled by Cabefa de Vaca and his 
companions begged them not to be distressed about it, assuring 
them that they held the loss of their goods as naught in compari- 
son with the pleasure of having beheld the children of the sun, 
who had the power to heal the sick and take away life. They 
declared they should hide nothing from them, because everything 
was known to these divinilies. So great was the terror which 
their presence inspired, that for the first few days upon their arri- 
val in any new place, the inhabitants never stood before them 
without trembling, and did not dare to speak nor lift up their 
eyes. De Vaca says : '' We kept up much state and gravity with 
them, and in order to maintain this we spoke but seldom to 
them. The negro who was with us talked often to them, in- 
formed himself of the roads we wished to take, of the villages 
we should come upon, and of other things which we desired to 
know. Although we knew six languages we could not in all 
parts make use of them, as we found more than a thousand dif- 
ferent languages. If we had had an interpreter so that we could 
have made ourselves perfectly understood we should have left 
them all Christians.'"'' 

* Naufragios de Alvar Nunez Cabe9a de Vaca, cap. 31. Barcia, Ilistoria- 
dorts, torn. ii. 



l6 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Thus did Cabeya de Vaca and his companions for nearly six 
years pursue their journey among the Indians. During all this 
long period they never once abandoned their hope and design of 
reaching Mexico. Finally after many other strange adventures 
De Vaca arrived at the Spanish settlements in Mexico, and was 
received by his countrymen with the greatest consideration and 
rejoicing. 

Having been sent over to Spain, he presented to the crown a 
narrative of the unfortunate expedition of Narvaez, representing 
that the country contained great wealth that he alone was able to 
secure, and begging that he be made the governor. In this he 
was disappointed, however, but was placated by the government 
of La Plata, in South America. The narrative of De Vaca has 
been received by historians and antiquarians as in the main vera- 
cious, though describing some wonderful customs and people. It 
is the earliest account of Florida which we possess, having been 
published in 1555, and is of inestimable value. 

Among the sailors in the ill-starred expedition of Narvaez was 
one Juan Ortiz, who has attained a celebrity on account of his 
connection with the later expedition of De Soto. Ortiz was among 
those who returned to Cuba at the beginning of the expedition. 
It is said that the wife of Narvaez, by a great reward, induced him 
to accept the command of a small vessel which she fitted out to 
go in search of her husband. Ortiz, having returned to the shores 
of Florida, was decoyed by the Indians to put himself in their 
power, and was then seized and brought before the chief named 
Hiriga, or Hirrihigua, who, feeling inflamed at the treatment he 
had received at the hands of Narvaez, ordered the captive to be 
stretched out on a pile and burned to death. Then history relates 
an episode similar to that of Captain John Smith and Pocahon- 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1 7 

tas, only more romantic. In this case not only did the beautiful 
Indian maiden supplicate an angry father, and clothe the quality 
of mercy in such attractive garb as to melt the flinty heart of a 
stern old savage ; but, having procured the release of Ortiz from his 
imminent peril, she, with her equally noble and heroic affianced 
husband, sacrificed their love on the altar of humanity. Ortiz 
having been set to watch a burying-ground, allowed a wolf to 
drag off the body of a lately -buried chief, and though he pursued 
and killed the wolf, he was again sentenced to death to appease 
the outraged spirit. In despair of saving a life that was so justly 
forfeited, the daughter of the chief sent Ortiz to her lover, a 
neighboring chief named Macaco, who protected him for a period 
of twelve years until the arrival of De Soto. He thus incurred the 
enmity of Hiriga, who refused to consent to the alliance with his 
daughter unless the white man was sacrificed to placate the wrath 
of the spirit he had failed to protect. Unfortunately history has 
failed to preserve the name of this remarkable girl, and still more 
unfortunate is it that there is no reason to believe that after the 
arrival of De Soto, any return was made the chiefs daughter, 
which would show an appreciation by the white men of conduct 
so worthy of the highest encomiums and reward. 



CHAPTER IV. 

HERNANDO DE SOTO. AN ACCOUNT OF HIS MARCH THROUGH 

FLORIDA. 

Misled by the fabulous stories told of the wealth of Florida, 
and by the still more deceptive innuendoes in the account of De 
Vaca, and having before their eyes continually the immense treas- 
ures actually secured in Peru and Mexico, the Spaniards were sat- 
isfied that it only needed a force sufficiently large and ably com- 
manded to secure to the conquerors even greater treasures in 
their northern possessions. They were, moreover, convinced that 
the Indian tribes would not defend, with such persistent valor and 
great sacrifices, a worthless country, when the incalculable wealth 
of the Aztec had been so feebly defended. 

At this favorable moment there appeared at court a man who 
was acknowledged to be eminently qualified to inspire confidence 
in any undertaking he might enter upon. No knight stood 
higher in the esteem of his sovereign, or enjoyed greater popu- 
larity with the cavaliers than Hernando de Soto. Born of a good 
family in the northern part of Spain, he had early entered the ser- 
vice of D'Avilas, the governor of the West Indies, by whom he 
was put in command of a detachment sent to Peru to reinforce 
Pizarro. 

Here he exhibited remarkable courage and capacities, and soon 

i8 



1528] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. I9 

rose to be second in command. Having gained a valuable expe- 
rience and a splendid reputation in the conquest of Peru, he was 
induced by Pizarro to seek his pleasure or glory in another field, 
lest his own achievements should be rivaled by those of his lieu- 
tenant. A million and a half of dollars was the sum which he 
received on relinquishing the field. This, in those days, princely 
fortune was but, a small portion of the exorbitant ransom paid by 
the captured Inca. 

Returning to Spain, his wealth and achievements seem to have 
excited genuine admiration rather than envy, and he at once be- 
came the favorite of the court. His martial spirit craved adven- 
tures, and could not remain content with the dullness of court life. 
He therefore petitioned the king to be allowed to fit out an expe- 
dition to occupy and settle the Spanish northern possessions. 
The country at that time designated as Florida extended from 
the Chesapeake Bay to Mexico, and, as was thought, embraced 
the richest portion of the world, full of all things good. 

De Soto's request having been granted, he was at once com- 
missioned Adelantado and Marquis of Florida. A fleet of seven 
ships and three cutters was at once purchased, and armed and 
equipped for the expedition, and, as it was De Soto's intention to 
colonize the country, much attention was given to providing a 
supply of such seeds and animals as were desirable to introduce. 
It is possible that some of the seeds scattered by the followers of 
De Soto may to-day be reproducing themselves in Florida. The 
origin of the wild horses of America has also been assigned to the 
Spanish introduction at this time. So great was the desire to ac- 
company De Soto, and so certain seemed the rich recompense of 
wealth and honor to be achieved under such a leader, that the 
complement of a thousand chosen men was recruited with ease. 



20 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



Of this number more than three hundred were gentlemen of 
rank, knights and hidalgoes of the best blood of Spain, who lav- 
ished their means in the purchase of arms and equipments, think- 
ing that with these they would procure wealth in plenty. With 
this brilliant corps were twelve priests, to minister to the spiritual 
welfare of the Spaniards, or Indians, or both. 

Leaving Spain in the spring, the fleet proceeded as far as Cuba, 
where it was delayed a while in completing the arrangements. 
Here De Soto married the lady Isabella, a sister of the famous 
Bovadilla. The enjoyment of the society of his new wife, how- 
ever, could not detain him from the pursuit of honor. In May, 
^539> he left Cuba and landed in Florida on Whitsunday, in the 
same month. The bay in which they landed, now called Tampa 
Bay, was named by them "Espiritu Santo," in honor of the dav 
on which they arrived. A detailed account of the march of De 
Soto would be too long to introduce in a work like this. There 
were two reports published in the sixteenth century, both of which 
have been translated into English. While of great value and in- 
terest, they both contain much that is fabulous and exaggerated. 
Soon a.f'ter beginning the march northward, the advance guard of 
the Spaniards fell in with a body of Indians, who advanced appa- 
rently to oppose them. The Spanish captain, thinking it was an 
assault, ordered a charge, when, greatly to their surprise, they 
heard the Spanish tongue in a supplication not to kill one of their 
own countrymen. The speaker proved to be the captive Ortiz, 
before mentioned. Having acquired a knowledge of the Indian 
language he was a great acquisition to the command, though un- 
able, from his restricted confinement, to give a satisfactory reply 
to the first question asked him by his countrymen, "Where was 
there any gold to be found .? " By the advice of Ortiz, or from 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 21 

motives of policy, De Soto pursued a pacific policy at first, and 
met with fi-iendly treatment and generous supplies of provisions at 
the various Indian towns. The Indians, at that time, seemed to 
have paid considerable attention to agriculture, and to have lived 
in towns that were rudely fortified, and built with very consider- 
able dwelling houses and barns. Some of the houses of the 
chiefs are described as more than a hundred feet long, containing 
many rooms, and set upon artificial mounds. They were built of 
palings, sometimes plastered with clay, and covered with thatch. 
At nearly every town the Spaniards found provisions stored, con- 
sisting of walnuts, dried grapes, beans, millet, and corn, besides 
growing vegetables, among which are mentioned beets. Some of 
the towns must have been very large, as many as six thousand in- 
habitants dwelling in and around several mentioned. At one 
town called Mabila, the baggage and valuables of the Spaniards 
were carried within the palisades by the Indians forced to trans- 
port them. There an attack was made upon the town, and 
twenty-five hundred of the savages were slain. The chief and a 
company of natives to transport the baggage were seized at every 
town, unless packmen were offered voluntarily. After marching 
a short distance away from their homes, the women were allowed 
their freedom, but the men were led by a chain attached to a 
Spanish soldier. Arriving at a town, these bondsmen were re- 
leased, and new captives taken, to be in turn exchanged further 
on. 

In this manner did De Soto march through what is now Florida, 
thence north-easterly through Georgia into South Carolina, thence 
back to the vicinity of Pensacola. 

While in South Carolina De Soto fell in with an intelligent 
race of Indians, whose sovereign was a woman. Here he secured 



22 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

a large store of pearls, nearly three hundred pounds, some of 
which were said to be worth their weight in gold. These, how- 
ever, were all lost, together with the other valuables and the bag- 
gage, in the burning of the town Mabila. 

W. Gilmore Simms, the novelist, has seized upon the fables 
connected with this Indian queen, in his romance of "Andres 
Vasconselos." 

Trusting to the disingenuous tales of the Indians, and ever led 
on by his overweening faith in the existence of vast stores of gold, 
De Soto had marched on and ever further on until, consuming a 
year's time, he had made a complete circuit of the country, and 
found himself empty-handed within six days' march of Pensacola, 
then called Ochuse. Here he*had ordered his lieutenant, Mal- 
donado, to await his arrival with the ships he had sent back to 
Cuba for a supply of provisions' and mining tools. 

De Soto at this time exhibited that masterly force of character 
which had secured his former success and his great influence. 
Unwilling to endure the disgrace that would attach to an un- 
successful issue of the expedition, a disaster which, with the 
unfortunate results of former expeditions, he feared would pre- 
clude any future attempts to settle the Spanish domains in 
Florida, he resolved to conceal from his followers their location 
and the nearness of the fleet, lest, being disheartened by their 
want of success and worse than uncertain prospect of the future, 
they would refuse to continue on, and taking possession of the 
ships, set sail for the West Indies. He therefore forbade Ortiz 
to mention to the troops the arrival of ]\Ialdonado, which had 
been learned from the Indians. Recruiting his men and horses 
by a short rest, he marched on again into the unknown wilder- 
ness, and turned his back forever upon home, friends, and all 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 23 

that makes life worth living. Still searching for gold he marched 
from region to region, ever meeting and overcoming difficulties 
and opposition, and yet unsuccessful. He proceeded as high as 
the Cumberland River, then turned west, crossed the Mississippi, 
and reached the Red River. In that region the Spaniards wintered, 
and in the spring De Soto retraced his steps to the Mississippi, 
having determined to reach the mouth of that river, from whence 
he could send to Mexico and Cuba for further supplies. The 
disappointment and mortification which his gallant nature had so 
long opposed was eating like a cancer into his heart, and unsus- 
tained by a hope, which in other circumstances would have 
thrown off disease, his body at last gave way to fatigue and 
malaria, and he began to sink under a wasting fever. Deep 
despondency settled down upon him as he thought of home, his 
young wife, and all the comforts and prospects he had put so 
far from his reach. Calling his followers about him, he thanked 
them for their courage and devotion, and besought them to 
accept of his appointment of a successor to lead them after his 
death, which he assured them was near at hand. His followers 
tried to afford him the regulation comfort at such times, depict- 
ing this life as so full of misery that he was most happy who was 
soonest relieved of its burden. They finally received from him 
the appointment of Louis Moscoza as their captain. 

Shortly after, on the 21st day of May, 1542, died that chivalrous 
knight, Don Hernando de Soto, Governor of Cuba, and Adelan- 
tado of Florida, far from his native land, in the wilderness on the 
banks of that great Father of Waters, whose vast and turbid flow 
ever recalls his great name and deeds, and whose discovery has 
proved his most enduring remembrance. 

Desirous of impressing the Indians with the supernatural 



24 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

origin of De Soto, his followers declared that his father, the Sun 
God, had taken him to himself, and lest their deception should 
be manifested by the sight of his dead body, the corpse of their 
illustrious and beloved leader was placed in a canoe, and in the 
darkness of the night consigned to the waters of the mighty 
river. 

Immediately after the death of De Soto, the Spaniards began 
to build boats and collect provisions in preparation for their long 
voyage. They continued thus employed until the annual floods 
had subsided, when they descended to the gulf. Though con- 
tinuously receiving attacks from the Indians, they at last reached 
the Spanish settlement of Panuco, in Mexico. Here they were 
received with joy, and every kindness proffered them. Three 
hundred and eleven men kneeled before the altar in thanksgiving 
to God for their safe deliverance from those distresses and perils 
which had swept away more than two-thirds of the gallant army 
that four years before had landed in Florida, an army that had 
overrun a country containing thousands of brave inhabitants, 
subsisted for more than three years on the country through which 
it passed, ever maintained the unity of its command and devo- 
tion to its valorous leader while he lived, and executed his wishes 
after his death. 

In 1559 the Spaniards made another attempt to explore Flor- 
ida. ]\Iendoza, the governor of Mexico, under advices from 
Spain, ordered the equipment of a larger and more complete ex- 
pedition than ever had landed in Florida. 

Fifteen hundred soldiers and many of the religious orders set 
sail from Vera Cruz in the spring of 1559, under the command 
of a soldier of some reputation, Don Tristan de Luna. Landing 
near Pensacoia, the Spaniards underwent an experience similar to 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



25 



that encountered by their countrymen in the previous expeditions, 
and after being distressed by hunger, weakened by losses, and 
divided by mutiny, finally returned without having accomplished 
more than to view the desolation wrought by De Soto and Nar- 
vaez in the country through which they had passed. 



CHAPTER V. 

HUGUENOT SETTLEMENT UNDER RIBAULT. 

The Spaniards having thus far been unsuccessful in making a 
settlement upon the shores of Florida, the country was left open 
to any nation which should enter upon and colonize the territory. 
The Admiial Gaspard de Coligni, then at the head of the Protest- 
ant party in France, perceived with the sagacity of a statesman, 
the advantage of a colony in America composed of French Prot- 
estants. While increasing the dominion of France, and thus 
gaining its promoters honor and patronage, it would afford a 
refuge, in case the result of the bitter contest with the Guises 
should prove disastrous to the Protestant party, 

Charles the Ninth, then monarch of France, approved of the ad- 
miral's purpose, and furnished him with two ships. These were 
readily m .nned with zealous Huguenots, under the command of 
Jean Ribault, who sailed on the i8th of February, 1562, intend- 
ing to enter the river San tee. Arriving on the coast in about the 
latitude of St. Augustine, they proceeded north, and entered a 
large river on the first of May, which they called the river of May. 
Here Ribault erected a stone monument on which was engraved 
the arms of France. 

Continuing their exploration of the coast, they sailed north 
about "ninety leagues,"' until they finally disembarked near Port 
Royal, South Carolina, where they concluded to plant the colony. 

26 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 2/ 

The site selected for their new city was a favorable one, being in 
a fertile and pleasant country, "abounding in mulberry and per- 
simmon trees, and inhabited by a race of hospitable Indians, who 
supplied them with food for the merest trifles." Though the 
prime object of the expedition had been to establish a colony in 
America, when the moment arrived to decide who should remain 
in the new settlement so far from home, and who return in the 
ships to France, it seems that it was necessary to appeal to the 
honor and the patriotism of the company to secure volunteers to 
retain possession of the territory which they had christened New 
France. Twenty-six of Ribault's followers, however, agreed to re- 
main, under the command of Albert, one of his lieutenants. 

A field, sixteen rods long and thirteen wide, was stockaded, 
and within this they built a fort, which they named in honor of 
their sovereign, Fort Charles. We shall see that this honor paid 
to their king was reciprocated on the part of that vacillating mon- 
arch by a total neglect of the rights and interests of his loyal 
subjects. 

Leaving provisions and ammunition for the little colony, Ri- 
bault sailed away in the middle of July, trusting to soon return 
with a large company, who should be the pioneers of a great 
branch of the French nation on this continent. Having arrived 
in France, he found the government so divided by^ civil discord 
and confusion that he was unable to secure any attention for the 
settlement of New France. 

Meanwhile Captain Albert visited the Indian chiefs in the vicin- 
ity, cultivating their friendships, and exchanging simple presents 
for their gifts of pearls and some silver ore, which the Indians re- 
ported as having been dug from the ground on certain high hills 
by a tribe who lived ten days' journey to the west. 



28 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

The colonists seem to have expected to live on the provisions 
left within the fort until the return of the fleet from France. 
When the weeks passed by and their supplies began to be ex- 
hausted, with no sign of relief from France, the colonists began 
to be disobedient, quarrelsome, and unmanageable. In the com- 
pany was one Laclerc, a licentious demagogue. This Laclerc, 
being opposed by Albert in his attempt to reduce certain of the 
Indians to slavery, raised a mutiny, in which the captain lost his 
life. After the death of Albert, the Indians refused to supply the 
colony with provisions, and their situation became so serious 
that they resolved to desert the country, and if possible return to 
France. Choosing one of their number as captain, they set to 
work to build a small ship and collect a store of provisions. 

Having succeeded in constructing a small vessel, calked with 
moss and rigged with cordage made from fibrous plants, they set 
the sails made from their garments, and embarked to cross the 
wide ocean in a craft that had neither the capacity nor equipment 
for a coasting voyage. Soon after putting to sea they became be- 
calmed, and continued so for twenty days, by which time they had 
been reduced to a starving condition. 

So great was their necessity that they were about to cast lots for 
a victim, whose flesh should support life in the rest, when Laclerc 
the mutineer, off"ered himself as the victim. So desperate was 
their strait that his ofl"er was accepted and his flesh distributed 
among the company. Life being sustained, they were soon after 
relieved from the repetition of such a shocking tragedy, being 
picked up by a passing vessel and taken to England. Having 
been brought before Queen Elizabeth, they gave such an account 
of Florida as to excite in her a great interest in the country. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SECOND HUGUENOT SETTLEMENT UNDER LAUD0Nn1:RE. 

CoLiGNi and the Protestants had not forgotten the forsaken 
colony, nor relinquished their intention of providing a refuge in 
America. 

After two years Coligni succeeded in obtaining authority to 
send three ships to the succor of the colony in Florida. A 
company equal to the capacity of the ships quickly volunteered 
for the enterprise, of whom a large number belonged to families 
of good blood. 

Having been well equipped with arms, provisions, tools, and 
seeds for agriculture, the fleet sailed under the command of Cap- 
tain Rene Laudonnere, who had accompanied Ribault on the 
former expedition. 

It is greatly to be regretted that the astute Coligni had not 
assumed in person the command of this expedition intended to 
establish in America a New France, forty-three years before the 
first settlement of the English at Jamestown, and sixty-six years 
before the Puritans on the Mayflower landed at Plymouth. His 
counsels would doubtless have preserved the weak colony who 
were so cruelly exterminated, and he himself would have escaped 
his untimely end. Coligni was one of the first victims of the 
horrid massacre of Paris on the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day, in 

29 



30 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

1572, being assassinated by one of the servants of the Duke of 
Guise. 

Laudonnere came upon the coast at St. Augustine, but, stop- 
ping only for a reconnoisance, he sailed to the site of the former 
colony and Fort Charles, with the hope of relieving his country- 
men. Finding the fort deserted, and learning of the time that 
had elapsed since the departure of the colony, he determined to 
return to the river ]\Iay (now the St, Johns), and found his 
settlement on its banks, where, as he says, the ''means of sub- 
sistence seemed to abound," and the signs of gold and silver 
observed on the former voyage had been very encouraging. 
These signs must have been the possession by the Indians of 
some pieces of quartz, which seems to have been very general, 
and to have led the French like the Spaniards from tribe to tribe 
like a very ignis-fatuus. 

Laudonnere's account of his landing at the harbor of St. 
Augustine is extremely interesting, and by his description the 
location is readily recognized. He says: "We arrived on 
Thursday, the 2 2d of June (1564), about three o'clock in the 
afternoon, and landed at a little river which is thirty degrees dis- 
tant from the equator. After we had struck sail and cast anchor 
athwart the river, F determined to go on shore to discover the 
same. Therefore, being accompanied by Mons. de Ottigni, with 
Mons. d'.\rlac, mine Ensign, and a certain number of gentlemen 
and soldiers, I embarked myself about three or four o'clock in 
the evening, and being arrived at the mouth of the river, I 
caused the channel to be sounded, which was found to be very 
shallow, although that further within the same the water was 
there found reasonably deep, which separateth itself into two 
great arms, whereof one runneth toward the south, and the other 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 3 1 

toward the north. Having thus searched the river, I went on 
land to speak with the Indians, which waited for us upon the 
shore, which at our coming on land came before us crying with 
a loud voice in their Indian language 'Antipola Bonassou,' 
which is as much as to say, brother, friend, or some such like 
thing. After they had made much of us, they showed us their 
paracoussy, that is to say, their king or governor, to whom I 
presented certain toys wherewith he was well pleased and for 
mine own part I praised God continually for the great love I 
found in these savages, which were sorry for nothing but that the 
night approached and made us retire into our ships. Howbeit 
before my departure I named the river the River of Dolphins, 
because at mine arrival I saw there a great number of dolphins 
which were playing at the mouth thereof ""^ The dolphins or 
porpoises still continue to play in the river and harbor at St. 
Augustine, especially during the summer season. Throughout 
the greater part of the year rare sport could be obtained by good 
shots who had the skill to lodge a rifle ball in the head of the 
porpoise as he rises to ' ' blow. " 

The Indian town located on the present site of St. Augus- 
tine was Seloy, and the same name seems to have been given to 
both of the rivers which unite to form the harbor. From the 
narration it would seem probable that the point where Laudqn- 
nere landed was upon Anastatia Island, the Indians having come 
over from the mainland on seeing the French ships -in the offing. 

Laudonnere having left Fort Charles, entered the river May, 
and selecting a favorable site, about six leagues distant from the 
mouth, built a small settlement, which he fortified with palisades 

* Hakluyt's translation. French's Historical Collections, p. 223. 



^2 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

and an embankment of earth in the shape of a triangle, and 
named it Carolus, still doing honor to the king who so little 
deserved esteem. ' With a religious fervor characteristic of the 
age, and probably heightened by their isolation, and proximity 
to the v£tst ocean which they had just passed in safety, and sol- 
emnly impressed by their surroundings on a vast and unexplored 
contin-ent, the little band of strangers assembled and dedicated 
their work and themselves to the glory of God and the advance- 
ment of his holy faith. 

The site of the Huguenot settlement is now known as St. 
John's Bluff, the first point of high land on the south after enter- 
ing the St. Johns River from the ocean. It is a sightly hill, 
probably formed by sand dunes at an early period when the shore 
was far to the west of its present coast line. The bluff rises some 
forty feet above the river, and is covered with a thick growth of 
oaks and other hard woods. At the foot of the hill on the east 
lay the broad marshes stretching for four or five miles toward the 
sea, and reaching to the narrow ridge of sands and woods adjoin- 
ing the beach. The channel of the river here approaches the 
southern bank, and the strong current sweeping in against the 
mobile sands at each tide has greatly abraded the hill until prob- 
ably the site of Laudonnere's fort has become the channel of the 
river. The site has been fortified several times since. During 
the rebellion a considerable earthwork was erected there by Flor- 
ida troops, but the encroachments of the river have already 
swept away the site. 

Laudonnere had found the Indians very friendly, and this 
peaceable disposition was by him assiduously cultivated. Trink- 
ets and small presents were exchanged for the provisions which 
they liberally provided, and on several occasions the French lent 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 33 

their aid in making war on the enemies of the friendly tribes 
about them. 

The chief or cacique of the tribe which inhabited the country 
between the mouih of the St. Johns River and St. Augustine 
was named Satourioua, or Satouriva, and in his intercourse with 
the French and Spanish he exhibited a remarkable sagacity and 
fidelity, as well as a dignity unlooked for in a savage, 

Laudonnere describes his first meeting with this chief in these 
words : " We found the Paracoussy Satourioua under an arbor, 
accompanied by fourscore Indians at the least, and appareled at 
that time after the Indian fashion, to wit : with a great hart's skin, 
dressed like chamois and painted with devices of strange and 
divers colors, but of so lively a portraiture and representing an- 
tiquity with rules so justly compassed that there is no painter so 
exquisite that could fmd fault therewith. The natural disposition 
of this strange people is so perfect and so well guided that with- 
out any aid and favor of arts they are able by the help of nature 
only, to content the eye of artisans ; yet even of those which by 
their industry are able to aspire unto things most absolute. 

"The paracoussy now brought us to his father's lodging, one 
of the oldest men that lived upon the earth. Our men regarding 
his age began to make much of him, using this speech. Ami — 
ami — that is to say friend, whereat the old sire showed himself 
very glad. Afterwards they questioned with him concerning the 
course of his age ; whereunto he made answer showing that he 
was the first living original from whence five generations were de- 
scended. M. de Ottigni having seen so strange a thing turned to 
the man praying him to vouchsafe to answer him to that which he 
demanded touching his age. Then the old man called a com- 
pany of Indians, and striking twice upon his thigh, and laying 



34 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

his hand upon two of them, he showed him by signs that these 
two were his sons ; again, smiting upon their thighs, he showed 
him others not so old who were the children of the first two ; 
which he continued in the same manner until the fifth generation. 
But this old man had his father alive, more old than himself, and 
this man, which seemed to be rather a dead carcass than a live 
body, for his sinews, his veins, his arteries, his bones and other 
parts appeared so clearly that a man might easily tell them and 
discern them one from another, and both of them did wear their 
hair very long, and as white as possible, yet it was told us that 
they might yet live thirty or forty years more by the course of na- 
ture, although the younger of them both was not less than two 
hundred and fifty years old." * 

Laudonnere employed the Indians to assist him in finding gold, 
and sent various boat expeditions to the head-waters of the St. 
Johns River. It is reported, though unlikely, that one of his 
officers penetrated the interior as far as the Mississippi. 

Some of his men appear to have been dissatisfied with the 
position assumed by their leader. They accused him of setting 
up a regal state, and also of having obtained a knowledge of the 
location of gold which he concealed from the rest of the company. 
Through the influence of these disaffected ones a conspiracy was 
organized to depose Laudonnere. He got rid of several of the 
disafi^ected ones, however, by sending them back to France in a 
vessel which was returned for supplies at this period. Subse- 
quently the discontent increased, and Laudonnere was confined 
for fifteen days upon one of the vessels in the river, while the mu- 
tineers set about equipping two small vessels which he had built 

* Laudonn^re's Narrative, translated by Hakluyt. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



35 



for exploration. After rifling the fort of such suppUes as they 
needed, they set sail in these two ships on a piratical expedition. 
One of these vessels, having been separated by a gale from its con- 
sort, captured a Spanish ship, and after various adventures was 
finally captured and the crew destroyed. The other, after having 
exhausted its supplies, returned to the colony, and four of the 
leaders were tried and shot for mutiny. 

Hearing that there were white captives among the Indians who 
resided further south, Laudonnere sent word that he would pay 
a considerable ransom for their delivery. Soon after there ap- 
peared two Spaniards who had been wrecked fifteen years before. 
They had adopted the costume of the natives — long hair, et pre- 
kria nihil. They reported that there had also been saved several 
women who had married and consented to live among the In- 
dians. 

The vessel sent to France for supplies not having returned, the 
garrison were threatened with an exhaustion of their stores. 
During all this time the French seem to have made no effort to 
cultivate the ground, expecting either that they would be supplied 
from home or that the Indians would furnish all that was required 
for subsistence. Their store of presents having become exhausted, 
however, the Indians became very niggardly and exacting, and 
finally declared that they were unable to supply any sort of pro- 
visions. At this Laudonnere seized a chief of one of the tribes 
inhabiting the territory to the south, and demanded of the In- 
dians a large amount of provisions as a ransom. This he did 
not succeed in securing, and only engendered in the Indians an 
unfriendly spirit, which prompted them later to give to Menendez 
information of the location and condition of the French forces. 
He finally obtained supplies from some of the tribes to the north, 



^5 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

among which was one inhabiting the sea islands, whose ruler was 
a beautiful queen. Finding themselves in danger of starvation, 
the French set about constructing a vessel to return home. They 
were diligently pushing on the work of construction when there 
appeared off the coast an English fleet under the command of 
Sir John Hawkins, who put into May River for water. Laudon- 
nere entertained the English with the best he had, even killing 
sheep and poultry that he had been saving to stock the country. 
This hospitality was reciprocated by Sir John, who, seeing their 
desperate condition, offered to transport the whole company to 
France. Though he pledged his word to land them on the 
shores of France before touching England, Laudonnere refused 
his offer, fearing, as he said, " least he should attempt somewhat 
in Florida in the name of his mistress." • 

Sir John Hawkins, however, with a generous humanity, con- 
sented to sell to the French one of his vessels, and suffered them 
to assess its value. With the vessel the English admiral delivered 
to them a thousand rounds of ammunition, twenty barrels of flour, 
five barrels of beans, a hogshead of salt, with wax for candles, 
and, as he saw the Frenchmen were barefooted, fifty pairs of 
shoes. Having delivered these things to the French, Sir John 
sailed away bearing with him the blessings of these forsaken 
Frenchmen. Alas ! their enjoyment of the fruits of the English- 
man's humanity was destined to be short-lived. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE UNFORTUNATE EXPEDITION UNDER RIBAULT. FOUNDING OF 

ST. AUGUSTINE BY MENENDEZ, 1 565. ATTACK UPON THE 

FRENCH SETTLEMENT ON THE ST. JOHNS RIVER. • 

The Huguenots in France had not forgotten their friends in 
Florida, though the dissensions at home had turned their at- 
tention away from all but the plottings and schemings about 
them. Desiring to succor and strengthen the colony, Coligni 
had secured a fleet of seven vessels, four being of considerable 
size. These he placed in command of Captain Ribault, who had 
taken out the first expedition. Ribault quicldy recruited a com- 
pany of six hundred and fifty persons, among whom were said to 
be many representatives of good fiimilies, about five hundred 
being soldiers. 

The fleet sailed from Dieppe in May, 1565, and after a long 
but uneventful voyage reached Florida in safety. 

By some means information had been sent to the Spanish 
Court that an expedition was fitting out for the succor of the 
Huguenot colony in Florida. It has been said that this knowl- 
edge emanated from those about the French sovereign, though it 
is by no means necessary that it must have come from such a 
source. The enemies of the Protestants were numerous and 
bitter all over France, and the recruiting and equipment of the 
expedition could have been no secret. 

S7 



og HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Philip 11. determined not to allow any encroachment on the 
territory, which he claimed by the right of his subjects' former 
expeditions of discovery and by gift from the Holy See. Not only 
was he unwilling to see Florida occupied by foreigners, but of all 
persons none were more objectionable than Protestants, upon 
whom he looked as upon those without the pale of Christianity, 
who only lived as enemies of God, to disseminate a wicked creed, 
and war upon His holy faith. The very instrument for the exe- 
cution of the plans of this bigoted monarch seems to have been 
at hand. Don Pedro Menendez de Avilla, had acquired wealth 
and distinction as a naval officer. This knight was now desirous 
of the honor of driving the French from Florida. Menendez was 
of aristocratic birth, a man of great firmness of will and tenacity 
of purpose ; a brave commander, with a superior sagacity and 
knowledge of human nature, and withal a most zealous and de- 
voted Catholic. The name of Menendez has been held up to the 
world as the symbol of all that is malignant, heartless, and cruel. 
If we are to judge of men's actions in the past by the motives that 
prompted them, as we are asked and expected to do in all things 
which happen in our own day, then by such a test the actions of 
Menendez must be less harshly considered. That he believed the 
rooting out of the Protestant colonization and their faith from the 
shores of the New World was God's work, there can be no doubt. 
His devotion to the propagation of the Catholic religion in Flor- 
ida, and the sacrifices which he made to extend and continue the 
teachings of that faith, prove beyond a doubt his sincerity and fer- 
vent zeal. His conciliatory measures toward the savages so en- 
tirely within his power, and his efforts to instruct the tribes all 
over Florida, which met with such marked success, will go far to 
prove that his nature was not wantonly cruel. The purpose of 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



39 



his expedition, the object for which he had enlisted nearly three 
thousand persons, transporting them into an unknown continent, 
and, as is said, investing of his own means nearly five million dol- 
lars, was to prevent the propagation of heretical doctrines on the 
shores of the New World. As Menendez expressed it, it was 
"to prevent the Lutherans from establishing their abominable 
and unreasonable sect among the Indians." It should also be 
remembered that an edict of Ribault's had been published when 
he undertook his expedition, "that no Catholic at the peril of his 
life should go in his fleet, nor any Catholic books be taken/' 

Besides it is not improbable that the French prisoners, who were 
nearly all put to death by Menendez, were destroyed in the belief 
that by this course alone could his own position in his isolated 
location be made safe. 

The little band with Laudonnere were waiting for fair winds to 
sail away from Florida in the ship they had purchased of the 
English when the fleet under Ribault arrived off" the mouth of the 
river May, on the 29th of August, 1565. Four of the seven 
vessels were too large to enter the river, but the other three were 
brought up to the settlement, and at once began to land the sup- 
plies. Ribault now assumed the command, and all thought of 
departure was dismissed. This course was most acceptable to 
Laudonnere, who had only consented to abandon the plan of col- 
onization from the force of his straitened circumstances and the 
demands of his company. He had declared that it made his heart 
grieve to leave "a place so pleasant that those who are melan- 
cholic would be forced to change their humor," and to possess 
which they had given up home, and friends, and fortune, and 
undergone perils of land and water. 

While the fleet of Ribault was making its long voyage across 



40 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

the Atlantic, Menendez was pushing forward his equipment of a 
fleet to follow and expel the French from Florida. If he succeed- 
ed he was to have the title of marquis, a large tract of land, and 
the freedom of all the ports of New Spain. A salary of ten thou- 
sand dollars and the title of Adelantado was conferred upon him 
at the outset. He secured a fleet of thirty-four vessels, which he 
fully equipped, providing the means from his private fortune. But 
one vessel, with two hundred and fifty soldiers and their equip- 
ment, was provided by the crown. Learning the object of the expe- 
dition, volunteers flocked to his standard until he soon had a force 
of nearly three thousand men, including a party of twenty-six 
monks and priests. Impatient of delay Menendez put to sea 
on the ist of July, with his flag-ship the El Pelayo and about 
two-thirds of his fleet, ordering the remainder to rendezvous at 
Porto Rico as soon as their equipment was completed. Scarcely 
had the fleet of Menendez left the port of Cadiz before a severe 
storm was encountered that separated the vessels, and sank and 
disabled so many that on his arrival at Porto Rico, on the 9th of 
August, he found but six ships under his command. The cour- 
age of their leader was undaunted, though a general despair per- 
vaded the fleet. In the destruction wrought by the mighty 
elements he pictured the hand of God, and revived the spirits of 
his followers by the assurance that the Almighty had reduced 
their numbers that ' ' His own arm might achieve the victory, and 
His glory be exalted." Learning that a Spanish vessel bearing 
letters to himself had been intercepted by the French fleet, he de- 
termined to sail for Florida at once, without waiting for the re- 
mainder of the fleet. On the 28th of August, the day set in the 
calendar of the Romish Church to the honor of St. Augustine, 
the fleet came in sight of the Florida coast, probably near Cape 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 4 1 

Canaveral. Here they learned the location of the French colony, 
and sailing northward, on the 4th of September cahie in sight of 
the four French ships, which lay off the mouth of the riv^i^May 
(St. Johns). During the night a council was held on board the 
vessel of the Spanish admiral, in which the majority of the cap- 
tains urged a delay until the remainder of the fleet could arrive 
from Spain. Menendez courageously refused to listen to such a 
plan, and gave orders for an attack at daybreak. The French- 
men, however, displayed more of discretion than boldness, and 
upon the approach of the Spanish fleet, put out to sea. Accord- 
ing to Laudonnere's account, "the Spaniards seeing that they 
could not reach them by reason that the French ships were better 
of sail than theirs, and also because they would not leave the 
coast, turned back and went on shore in the river Seloy, which we 
call the river of Dolphins, eight or ten leagues from where we 
were. Our ships returned and reported that they had seen three 
Spanish ships enter the river of Dolphins, and the other three re- 
mained in the road ; further, that they had put their soldiers, 
their victuals, and munitions on land. . . . And we under- 
stood by King Emola, one of our neighbors, which arrived upon 
the handling of these matters, that the Spaniards in great numbers 
were gone on shore, which had taken possession of the houses of 
Seloy, in the most part whereof they had placed their negroes, 
which they had brought to labor, and also lodged themselves and 
had cast divers trenches about them."* 

The Spanish priest Mendoza gives the following account of the 
foundation of St. Augustine: ''On Saturday, the 8th day of Sep- 
tember, the day of the Nativity of our Lady, the general disem- 

* Laudonnere's Narrative, French's Historical Collections, p. 332. 



A 2 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

barked with numerous banners displayed, trumpets and other 
mart-al music resounding, and amid salvos of artillery. Carrying 
. a cross I proceeded at the head, chanting the hymn Te Deum 
Laudamus. The general marched straight up to the cross, to- 
gether with all those who accompanied him ; and kneeling they 
all kissed the cross. A great number of Indians looked upon 
these ceremonies, and imitated w^hatever they saw done. There- 
upon the general took possession of ihe country in the name of 
his Majesty. All the officers then took an oath of allegiance to 
him as their general, and as Adelantado of the whole country." 

Near the site of the Indian village of Seloy was thus laid the 
foundation of the first town built by the Caucasian in America. 
At this time and place was also introduced that curse and blight 
upon the fairest portion of our country, African slavery, whose 
train of evils has not been confined to the Southern negroes, but 
has extended to the white race, and throughout the length and 
breadth of our common country. 

Especially to Florida has this iniquitous system been the cause 
of unnumbered woes. For an account of the misfortunes which 
slavery wrought upon this State prior to the rebellion of 1 86 1, the 
reader has only to consult Gidding's ''Exiles of Florida." It is 
certain that African slavery was at this time introduced into North 
America, though several writers have evinced a desire to overlook 
this important fact of history. The evidence, however, is too 
plain for denial, the original agreement with Philip the Second 
having granted to INIencndez the right to take with him five hun- 
dred negro slaves. Whether or not he took this number is not 
material. 

In commemoration of the day on which he arrived off the coast, 
Menendez gave to the new town the name of St. Augustine, 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE 43 

which it has continued to bear for more than three hundred years. 
The precise spot where the Spaniards landed is uncertain, though 
it is not unlikely that it was near the ground on which the Fran- 
ciscans erected their house, now the United States barrack. 

While Menendez was making haste to fortify his position at 
St. Augustine, Ribault was preparing to descend the coast, and 
by a sudden attack capture the Spanish fleet and cut off the set- 
tlement. This plan was ineffectually opposed by Laudonnere. 
His opposition to the plan of action adopted may have been the 
cause of his failure to accompany the expedition. Removing the 
artillery and garrison to his fleet, and leaving in the fort the non- 
combatants, including women, children, and invalids, to the num- 
ber of two hundred and forty under the command of Laudonnere, 
Ribault set sail to attack the Spaniards on the loth of September. 

They bore rapidly down until in sight of the Spanish vessels 
anchored off the bar of St. Augustine. Before the enemy were 
reached, and the fleet collected for action, Ribault found himself 
in the midst of one of those gales which occur with suddenness 
and violence on the coast of Florida at different periods of every 
fall. The tempest rendered his ships unmanageable, and finally 
wrecked them all at different points on the coast south of Matan- 
zas Inlet. 

Menendez had watched the French ships as they approached 
St. AugUitine. Observing the severity of the storm he was sat- 
isfied that the fleet could not beat back in its teeth should they 
escape shipwreck, and therefore their return was impossible for 
several days after the storm should cease. Determined to seize 
the favorable opporiunity to attack the fort on the St. Johns, he 
gathered a picked force, and with eight days' provisions began a 
march across the country under the guidance of two Indians who 



^ HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

were unfriendly to the French. The march proved difficult on 
account of the pouring rains and their ignorance of the country. 
The swamps and '' baygalls," many of them waist-deep with water, 
proved so embarrassing that it took three days of laborious march- 
ing amidst great discomforts to cover the distance of fifty miles 
between the two posts. Immediately on the departure of the 
ships, Laudonnere had set to work with the force at his command 
to repair the breeches in the fort. These had been made when 
they expected to return to France. He also began to so disci- 
pline his men as to be a guard to the post. For several days the 
regular watches were kept up by the captains who had been 
appointed, but as the gale continued they began to feel confident 
that no attack would be made while the weather was so inclement, 
and therefore ceased to be vigilant. On the night of September 
19th the gale had been very severe, and at daybreak, finding the 
captain of the watch was in his quarters, the sentinels went under 
shelter. At this very moment the soldiers under Menendez were 
in sight, kneeling in prayer. From prayers they rushed to the 
attack ; gaining entrance into the fort without much opposition, 
they began an indiscriminate slaughter. Laudonnere with twenty 
men sprang from the walls and escaped into the woods, from 
whence he made his way across the marshes to a small vessel in 
the river, which had been left in charge of Captain Jaques Ribault, 
a son of the admiral. From thence they proceeded directly to 
France without making an efi"ort to find their companions of 
Ribault's fleet or to learn their fate. 

An order from Menendez to spare the women, children, and 
cripples, put a stop to the massacre, though it is said, ''to escape 
death they were forced to submit to slavery." The French 
account says that all the men who escaped instant death were 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



45 



hung to the limbs of neighboring trees. This may be exaggerated, 
but it is certain that the Spaniards suspended the bodies of some 
of the Frenchmen, and set up this inscription, *'No por Fran- 
ceses, sino por Luteranos" (we do not do this as unto Frenchmen, 
but as unto Lutherans). Menendez found in the fort six trunks 
filled "with books well bound and gilt, from which they did not 
say mass, but preached their Lutheran doctrines every evening ; 
all of which books he directed to be burned." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SHIPWRECK OF RIBAULt's FLEET. MASSACRE BY MENENDEZ. 

Fearing lest Ribault should have escaped destruction in the 
storm, and returning, should make an attack during his absence, 
Menendez hurried back to St. Augustine. He took with him 
only fifty men, the rest being left under the command of his son- 
in-law, De Valdez, who was ordered to build a church on the 
site selected by Menendez, and marked by the erection of crosses. 
After the completion of the church, De Valdez was to use every 
effort to strengthen the captured fort. 

Arriving at St. Augustine, Menendez was hailed as conqueror, 
and having been escorted into the place by the priests and people 
who had been left behind, a solemn mass was repeated, and a 
Te Deum chanted to celebrate the victory. 

Several of Ribault's vessels were wrecked between Mosquito 
and Matanzas inlets. Strange as it may appear, in the destruction 
of the whole fleet but one life was lost from drowning.' It now 
often happens on the sandy portion of the Florida coast, that ves- 
sels will be driven high upon the beach by the force of the swell, 
and there left by the receding tide in a sound condition. 

About two hundred men had collected on the southern bar- 
rier at Matanzas Inlet, while a larger party with Ribault were 
gathered on the same barrier, further to the south. The Indians 
soon after reported to Menendez a large body of men at an inlet 

46 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, 47 

four leagues south which they were unable to cross. He there- 
fore marched with a body of forty men for the inlet, and arrived at 
Matanzas the same evening. His course was probably down the 
beach on Anastatia Island, as the account speaks of his ordering 
the boats to keep abreast of him on the march. 

Having come to the mouth of the inlet one of the Frenchmen 
swam across, and reported that the party there assembled be- 
longed to one of the vessels of Ribault's fleet. Menendez re- 
turned the man in a boat, and offered a pledge of safety to the 
French captain and four or five of his lieutenants who might 
choose to cross over and hold an interview. Upon this pledge 
the captain crossed over in the boat with four of his companions. 
These begged of Menendez that he would provide them with 
boats that they might cross that inlet and the one at St. Augus- 
tine, and return to their fort, twenty leagues to the north. Upon 
this Menendez informed ihem of the capture of the fort and the 
destruction ot the garrison. The captain thereupon besought 
that they be furnished with a vessel to return to France, observing 
that the French and Spanish kings were loving brothers and the two 
nations at peace. Menendez, in reply, asked if they were Catho- 
lics ; to which it was answered that they were of the New Relig- 
ion. Then Menendez answered that if they had been Catholics 
he would feel that he was serving his king in doing them kind- 
ness, but Protestants he considered as enemies against which he 
should wage war unceasingly, both against them, and against all 
that should come into the territory of which he was adelantado, 
having come to these shores in the service of his king, to plant 
the Holy Faith, in order that the savages might be brought to a 
knowledge of the Holy Catholic religion. 

Upon hearing this, the captain and his men desired to return 



48 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, 

and report the same to their companions, and were accordingly 
sent back in the boat. Soon after observing signals or signs from 
the opposite shore, the boat was sent over to know what was 
their pleasure. 

The French then endeavored to make some terms for a surren- 
der, with the privilege of ransom. There being many members 
of noble and wealthy families among them, as much as fifty thou- 
sand ducats was offered for a pledge of safety. Menendez would 
make no pledge, simply sending word that if they desired they 
could surrender their arms and yield themselves to his mercy, " in 
order that he might do unto them what should be dictated to 
him by the grace of God." The French seem to have had an in- 
stinctive feeling that it would fare hard with them should they 
yield ihemselves to the Spaniards ; yet they were so wholly demor- 
alized and disheartened by the misfortune that had befallen them, 
that after much delay and parley they finally sent word to Menen- 
dez that they were willing to yield themselves to be dealt with as 
he willed. The French were therefore transported across the 
sound in parties of ten at a time. As each boat-load was landed, 
IMenendez directed that the prisoners be led behind " the scrub," 
and their hands pinioned behind their backs. This course he 
declared to them to be necessary, as he had but a small number 
of men in his command, and if left free it would be an easy mat- 
ter for the French to turn upon him and revenge themselves for 
the destruction of their fort and Laudonnere's command. In this 
manner was secured the whole body of the French who had col- 
lected on the southern shore of Matanzas Inlet, to the number of 
two hundred and eight men. Of this number eight in response 
to an inquiry declared themselves to be Catholics, and were sent 
to St. Augustine in the boat. The remainder were ordered to 



HISTORY OF Sr. AUGUSTINE. ^g 

march with the Spanish soldiers on their path back to the settle- 
ment. Menendez had sent on in advance an officer and a file of 
soldiers with orders to wait at a designated spot on the road, and 
as the parties of Frenchmen came up, to take them aside into the 
woods and put them to death. In this manner the whole party 
were killed, and their bodies left on the sands to feed the buzzards. 

Menendez had hardly returned to St. Augustine before he 
learned that there was a larger body of Frenchmen assembled at 
the spot where he had found the first party, who were construct- 
ing a raft on which to cross the inlet. Hurrying back with his 
troops he sent across a boat with a message to the commander, 
whom he rightly conjectured was Ribault himself, that he had de- 
stroyed the fort on the St. Johns, and a body of those who were 
shipwrecked, and promising him a safe conduct if he wished to 
cross over and satisfy himself as to the truth of this report. Ri- 
bault availed himself of this offer, and was shown the dead bodies 
of his men who had been so cruelly murdered. He was allowed 
to converse with one of the prisoners who had been brought in 
the company of the Spaniards. This man was one of the eight 
who were Catholics and were spared from the former company. 

Ribault endeavored to negotiate for the ransom of himself and 
his men, offering double the sum before named by the French 
captain, but Menendez refused to listen to any terms except an 
unconditional surrender. After ineffectually offering a ransom of 
200,000 ducats, the French admiral returned to his party, and 
informed them of the demands of the Spaniard. In spite of the 
terrible fate of their comrades, which should have served as a 
warning of what awaited themselves, one hundred and fifty of the 
company, including Ribault, decided to surrender to the Spanish 
captain. 
3 



CQ HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

These were transported to the island and disposed of in the 
same manner as the former body of prisoners, saving only a few 
musicians, and four soldiers who claimed to be Catholics — in all, 
sixteen persons. Two hundred of the French refused to trust 
themselves to the Spaniards, preferring the chances of preserving 
their lives on the inhospitable beach until they could find a way 
to escape to a more friendly country. These retreated back to 
their wrecked ships, and began to construct a fort and a small 
vessel to return to France, or at least to leave the fatal shores of 
Florida. 

Menendez soon after determined to break up their camp, fear- 
ing the presence of so large a body of his enemies in his midst. 
Having fitted out a fleet of three vessels to co-operate by water, 
Menendez marched his soldiers a journey of eight days from St. 
Augustine. Here he found the fugitives encamped and prepared 
to resist an attack. Without delay, the Spaniards were led to bat- 
tle. The French, being poorly equipperl, fought at a disadvan- 
tage, and were soon forced to retire beyond the reach of the can- 
non of the fleet. Having captured the fortification, Menendez 
sent word to the French that if they would surrender he would 
spare their lives. A portion of the French refused to trust the 
pledge of the Spanish captain, and withdrew to the woods. These 
were never heard of more. The remainder came to the Spanish 
camp and surrendered. 

After destroying the fort and setting fire to the wrecked vessels 
and the ship the French had begun to build, the Spaniards sailed 
back to St. Augustine, bringing with them one hundred and fifty 
of the Frenchmen. To this remnant of the proud army of Ri- 
bault the pledges given by Menendez were faithfully kept. 

It is diflicult to believe that the unfortunate condition of these 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 5 1 

shipwrecked Frenchmen, far from their kindred or race, thrown 
destitute upon desolate shores, and begging so earnestly for Hfe, 
did not move the heart of Menendez to feelings of pity. Doubt- 
less a regard for his own safety united with a furious fanaticism to 
effectually seal up the springs of charity in his breast. 

The earlier experiences of Menendez in his wars against the 
Protestants of the Netherlands, had been in a fallow field for the 
cultivation of humanity. In those struggles Pope Pius V. is said 
to have commanded Count Santafiore to take no Huguenot 
prisoners, but instantly to kill every one who should fall into his 
hands. * 

Let us hope that the sands of Florida will never again be red- 
dened by blood spilled by the hand of the bigot or partisan. 

The results achieved by Menendez occasioned great rejoicing at 
the court of Spain. Letters of gratitude and commendation were 
sent to him by Philip IL and the Pontiff Pius V. The pope's 
letter is an able and dispassionate epistle. After lauding the vir- 
tues of Menendez, he declares to him that the key-note to his in- 
spiration and the motive of his labors, should be to preveni the 
''Indian idolaters" from being scandalized by the vices and bad 
habits of the Europeans. 

As the exaggerated reports of the cruelties practiced by Menen- 
dez spread through Europe, an intense and bitter feeling was ex- 
cited. Indignation pervaded the breasts of the French nation at 
the destruction of their fellow-countrymen, although the king, 
Charles IX., failed, in fact even refused, to take nodce of the 
slaughter of his faithful subjects. A petition from nine hundred 

* Catena, Vita de Pio V., p. 85, "He complained of die count for not 
having obeyed his command to slay instantly whatever heretic fell into his 
hands." 



C2 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

widows and orphans of those who had sailed on the fatal expe- 
dition with Ribault, was unheeded by this sovereign. That the 
fate of the Huguenots was merited as the common enemies of 
Spain, France, and the Catholic religion, was the openly avowed 
sentiment of this unnatural and unpatriotic king. 

Feeling the insecurity of his position, from which there was no 
place of retreat in case of a successful attack from a foreign foe or 
the neighboring Indians, Menendez applied himself, with the ut- 
most diligence, to strengthening the defense of his new town. At 
the same time he instituted such measures as should insure a per- 
manent settlement, and the establishment of civil rights and privi- 
leges. 

I have stated that the place wnere Menendez landed was prob- 
ably near the present United States barracks. While I have been 
unable to discover any authentic records bearing upon this point, 
the weight of Spanish testimony confirms the belief that the 
Spaniards first landed near the point stated. On the other hand, 
Romans, in his history of Florida, published in 1775, says: 
''After leaving St. Sebastian River, going south, we next meet 
the mouth of St. Nicholas Creek, on the point to the north of 
which the first town was built by the Spaniards, but they soon re- 
moved it, for convenience sake, to its present site." 

This St. Nicholas is now called Moultrie Creek, in honor of 
a lieutenant-governor of the province during the British occu- 
pancy, who built at its mouth an elegant country residence, which 
he called Bella Vista. It is situated six miles south of St. 
Augustine, and empties into the IMatanzas River. Besides the 
explicit testimony of Romans, there is a certain amount of nega- 
tive testimony to discredit the statement that an Indian town was 
located on the present site of St. Augustine. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



53 



First, the location at the mouth of Moultrie Creek would have 
been a more desirable location for an Indian town than the site 
of St. Augustine, because the land at St. Augustine was low 
ground (by some writers said to have been a marsh, though 
others say it was an oak hummock). It must have been subject 
to overflow at the periods of very high tides, and always exposed to 
the force of gales. There is also good reason to believe that there 
was water or low ground between the southern end of the town 
and the fort, and, moreover, there are no signs of Indian occupa- 
tion within the city proper. There are many traces of an Indian 
settlement to the north of the city, on the lands of Mr. Williams 
and in that vicinity, and all accounts agree that there was an In- 
dian town there in the early Spanish times. There are acres of 
Mr. Williams's land that are so thickly strewn with oyster shells as 
to render its cultivation difficult. 

However the facts may be as to the location of the first landing 
of Menendez and the attendant ceremonies, it is certain that, soon 
after, the foundations of the town were laid on its present site, 
and the town, with its fortifications, regularly laid out. The city 
was originally planned to be three squares one way by four the 
other. At this time a stockade or fortification was built upon or 
near the site of the present fort. At about the same period a 
parish church and hall of justice were erected, and civil officers 
appointed. 

During the winter succeeding the settlement of the Spaniards 
at St. Augustine, there was a great scarcity of provisions in the 
colony, so that the settlers were forced to forage upon the neigh- 
boring Indians, and to depend upon such supplies of fish and 
game as they might secure. The danger which attended any 
expeditions for hunting rendered this but a meager source of 



t^ HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

supply. Satouriva, the chief of the Indians, who inhabited the 
territory to the north, between St. Augustine and the St. 
Johns River, had been a friend of Laudonnere, and from the 
time of the destruction of the French he continued unceasingly 
to wage war on the Spaniards. His method of warfare ex- 
hibited the same bravery and cunning that has since become 
characteristic of the Indians, never being found when looked 
for — ever present when unexpected. By the constant harass- 
ing attacks, encouraged by this chief, the Spaniards lost many 
valuable lives, among them Juan Menendez, nephew of the gov- 
ernor. 

To obtain supplies to relieve the distress of his colony, Menen- 
dez undertook a voyage to Cuba. The governor of the island 
was through jealousy unwilling to render him any assistance, and 
he would have fared badly had he not found there four of his 
vessels, which had been left in Spain with orders to follow him, 
but, meeting with many delays, had but lately arrived in Cuba. 

With these vessels he returned to his colony, only to find that 
during his absence a portion of the troops had mutinied. The 
mutineers had imprisoned the master of the camp, who had been 
left in command, seized upon what provisions were remaining, 
and taking possession of a small vessel arriving with stores, had 
set sail for Cuba. 

Menendez with consummate tact succeeded in rousing the flag- 
ging interest of his colony in the extension of the true religion, 
and managed by his courage and presence to remove the causes 
of dissension. Desiring to be rid of a portion of his colony who 
had proved querulous, lazy, and inimical to his interest, he sent 
a body of them, numbering one hundred, back to Cuba in one of 
the vessels going for supplies. The return of this vessel was 



Hf STORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



55 



anxiously looked for, as the colony had again begun to suffer 
from a scarcity of provisions and from sickness. Without wait- 
ing for affairs to become desperate, Menendez sailed for Cuba to '' 
obtain the needed supplies. Upon his arrival he found the 
governor of Mexico there, but so disparaging had been the 
reports of those who had deserted his standard, that he was ad- 
vised to give up his unprofitable enterprise, and the succor he re- 
quested was refused. His courage but rose as his circumstances 
became more adverse, and, determined not to relinquish his un- 
dertaking nor return empty-handed to his famishing colony, he 
pawned his jewels and the badge of his order for a sum of five 
hundred ducats, with which he purchased the necessary pro- 
visions, and hastened back to Florida. Upon his return he was 
rejoiced to find that the distress of his colony had already been 
relieved. Admiral Juan de Avila had arrived from Spain with 
fifteen vessels and a thousand men, a large quantity of supplies, 
and what was most gratifying to Menendez, a letter of commenda- 
tion from his sovereign. 

Availing himself of the force now at his command, Menendez / 
set out on an expedition to establish forts and missionary sta- \ 
tions at different points along the coast, as had been his intention 
since his first landing in Florida. Several of these posts were at 
this time established by him in the territory then embraced in 
Florida, the most northerly station being on the Chesapeake Bay, 
which was the northern boundary of the possessions claimed by 
Spain. Priests or friars were left at each of these stations to in- 
struct the Indians. While estab'ishing these missionary posts for 
introducing Christianity among the Indians, Menendez became 
convinced that if the establishments were to be maintained, and 
the most important work of teaching the natives continued, he 



^5 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

must have larger means and greater forces at his command. 
Hoping to obtain this aid from his sovereign, he set out for Spain 
in the spring of 1567. Upon his arrival he was welcomed by 
the king with many flattering attentions and assurances of aid in 
the furtherance of his plans for propagating the Catholic faith. 



CHAPTER IX. 

EXPEDITION AND RETALIATION OF DE GOURGES. 

While Menendez was occupied in Spain in forwarding the in- 
terests of his colony, in France plans were being formed and a 
secret enterprise undertaken for an attack on the Spanish posts in 
Florida. 

Most inflammatory and exaggerated accounts of the massacre 
at Fort Carolin had been published throughout France. 

One account says of the Spaniards that, after taking the fort, 
"and finding no more men, they assailed the poor women, and 
after having by force and violence abused the greater part, they de- 
stroyed them, and cut the throats of the little children indiscrimi- 
nately, . . . they took as many of them alive as they could, 
and having kept them for three days without giving them any- 
thing to eat, and having made them undergo all the tortures and 
all the mockings that could be devised, they hung them up to 
some trees that were near the fort. They even flayed the king's 
lieutenant and sent his skin to the King of Spain, and having 
torn out his eyes, blackened with their blows, they fastened them 
on the points of their daggers, and tried who could throw ihem 
the greatest distance." * 

The French king had i*msed to listen to the appeals of the 
relatives and friends of the Huguenots who had been exterminated 

* Hakluyt's translation. 

3* 57 



58 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

in Florida ; but, distressed by the destruction of their countrymen 
and the harrowing accounts of the massacre, many of the nation 
had long felt it a mortification that an outrage so gross should 
have received neither redress nor rebuke. 

Among those whose jealous regard for the national honor was 
touched by the conduct of the French king, and in whose breast 
burned fiercely the fires of revenge, was the Chevalier Dominique 
de Gourges. Appearing as he does in history as the avenger of 
the sad destruction of his countrymen, in an expedition under- 
taken without solicitation, at his own expense, and at the risk of 
forfeiting his life by the command of his king, even if he should 
be successful, it is but natural that his character should have been 
extolled and his virtues exalted by all writers who have admired 
his chivalrous courage. 

De Gourges was born of noble parentage, at Mount Marsan 
in Guienne, and was said to have been a Catholic, though this is 
denied by the Spanish his orians. His life had been spent in 
arms in the service of his king in Scotland, Piedmont, and Italy. 
His career was that of an adventurer, ever ready to risk life to ac- 
quire honor and reputation, and having little desire to amass 
riches. While serving in Italy against the Spaniards, he was 
taken prisoner and consigned to labor as a galley slave. This 
ignominious treatment of a soldier of his birth and rank left in 
his mind an unappeasable hatred of the Spaniards. His period 
of servitude was cut short by the capture of the Spanish galley 
upon wj;iich he served by Turkish pirates, from whom in turn he 
was liberated by Romeguas, the French commander at IMalta. 
His experience during his imprisonment and escape seems to 
have opened his eyes to the opportunities for plunder upon the 
seas. Soon after his release he entered upon a marauding expe- 



1567] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 5q 

dition to the South Seas, in which he secured considerable 
plunder. He had but recently returned home, and retired to en- 
joy in quiet the property acquired in his ventures, when the news 
of the destruction of Ribault's colony reached France. Eager to 
retaliate by a severe punishment this outrage upon his country- 
men, De Gourges sold his property, and with the sum realized 
and what he could borrow on the credit of an alleged commer- 
cial venture, purchased and equipped a fleet of three small ves- 
sels, one of which was nothing more than a launch. 

Deeming it impolitic to make known the object of his voyage,- 
he obtained a license to trade and procure slaves on the coast of 
Africa. He enlisted for a cruise of twelve months a force of one 
hundred and eighty picked men, many of whom were gentlemen 
adventurers. He had been careful to secure one at least of the 
men who had escaped with Laudonnere from Fort Carolin. 
M. de Montluc, the king's lieutenant in Guienne, a friend of 
De Gourges, rendered him valuable assistance in securing his 
equipment. On the 2d of August, 1567, he left Bordeaux, but 
was delayed by a storm eight days at the mouth of the river 
Garonne. Afterward, having put to sea he was driven by stress 
of weather far out of his course, and encountered so severe a gale 
as to nearly wreck the fleet on Cape Finisterre. 

One vessel, in which was his lieutenant, was blown so far out 
of its course that for fifteen days it was supposed to be lost, 
which caused him all "the trouble in the world," as his people 
earnestly besought him to return. The missing vessel, however, 
met him off the coast of Africa. Land was then kept in sight 
until they reached Cape Verde ; "thence taking the direct route 
to the Indies, he sailed before the wind upon the high seas, and 
having crossed over, the first land which he made was the island 



5o HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

of Dominica." From thence proceeding he stopped in the 
island of St. Domingo to weather a gale, and at the island of 
Cuba for water, which he had to take by force, for he says: '' The 
Spaniards are enraged as soon as they see a Frenchman in the 
Indies. For although a hundred Spains could not furnish men 
enough to hold the hundredth part of a land so vast and capa- 
cious, nevertheless it is the mind of the Spaniards that this New 
World was never created except for them, and that it belongs to 
no man living to step on it, or breathe in it save to themselves 
alone." 

De Gourges had not revealed the real object of the expedition 
until, after leaving the island of Cuba, he assembled all his men, 
and declared to them his purpose of going to Florida to avenge 
on the Spaniards the injury which had been done to the king 
and to all France. He set before them the treachery and cruelty 
of those who had massacred Frenchmen, and the shame that it 
was to have left so long unpunished an action so wicked and so 
humiliating, and the honor and satisfaction that would redound 
to them in removing from the escutcheon of France this foul 
blot. The spirit of the address was suited to the French temper, 
and they professed themselves ready to fight for the honor of 
France wherever the captain should lead. Proceeding on the 
voyage the fleet passed the bar of the St. Johns River in sight 
of the forts which Menendez had constructed at the mouth of the 
river. The Spaniards, mistaking them for their own vessels, nred 
two guns as a salute, which was returned by the French, desiring 
to continue the deception. The fleet sailed north and entered 
the St. Mary's River, where they found a large body of Indians 
prepared to dispute any attempt to land. Seeing this, De Gour- 
ges made friendly demonstrations, and sent out the man who had 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 6 1 

been with Laudonnere. The Indians readily recognized the 
Frenchman, and were delighted to find that the strangers were of 
that nation, and enemies of the Spaniards. The chief proved to 
be Satouriva, the firm friend to Laudonnere. After learning the 
purpose of the expedition, Satouriva promised to join the com- 
mand at the end of three days with his whole force of warriors, 
declaring himself eager to revenge the many injuries he had him- 
self received as well as the wrongs inflicted on the French. 

Among Satouriva's tribe was a white child, a refugee from 
Laudonnere's colony, who had escaped at the massacre at Fort 
Carolin, and been protected and reared as a son by the old 
chief, though the Spaniards had made strenuous efforts to secure 
possession of him or compass his death. This child, named 
Peter de Bre, whom Satouriva had so faithfully defended, he 
now brought to the French ships together with his warriors as he 
had agreed. Being joined by the Indians, De Gourges set out 
across the country under the guidance of the chief, Helecopile, 
to attack the two forts at the mouth of the river. The In- 
dians had promised to bring the command to the fort on the 
north side of the river by daybreak, but, owing to the difficulty in 
following the intricate paths and fording deep creeks, they were 
nine hours marching four leagues, and the sun was rising as they 
reached the vicinity of the Spanish fort. This fort was built on 
Batton Island, near what is now Pilot-town. The other fort was 
nearly opposite, in the vicinity of the present village of Mayport. 
Both were armed with the cannon taken from the French at the 
capture of Fort Carolin. 

The Spaniards, not fearing a land attack upon the fort on Bat- 
ton Island, had neglected to clear away the woods in the vicinity, 
so that the French were concealed until they were close upon the 



52 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

fort. As they rushed from their cover the Spanish sentinel fired 
twice, when he was pierced by the pike of Olotoraca, an Indian 
chief, nephew of Satouriva. The Spanish garrison were at break- 
fast, and before they could be summoned the fort was filled with 
the French and Indians. So complete was the surprise that there 
was but little resistance. "As many as possible were taken alive 
by command of Captain Gourges, in order to do to them as they 
had done to the French." 

As soon as the Spaniards whose lives were spared in the attack 
could be secured, De Gourges embarked as large a portion of 
his soldiers as the boats at his disposal would carry, and hurried 
to cross the river and attack the fort at Mayport. The Indians, 
now wild with excitement, threw themselves into the water and 
kept alongside of the boats, swimming with their bows and arrows 
held above their heads. The Spaniards in the fort had by this 
time begun to realize the situation, and directed the fire of their 
guns upon "the boats and Indians. Their excitement and alarm 
were so great that they did not perceive a difference between the 
French and Indians, and seeing so great a multitude approach- 
ing, they broke in terror and fled from the fort before the French 
reached its walls. The garrison of the two forts was near a hun- 
dred and forty men, all but fifteen of whom were either killed in 
the attacks or slain by the Indians as they attempted to reach the 
mainland. 

The capture of these two forts occurred on the eve of the first 
"Sunday after Easter, 1568." Crossing to the fort first taken, De 
Gourges rested on Sunday and Monday. Scaling ladders and 
other preparations for an attack on the main fort were in the 
meantime being prepared. While here, a Spanish spy disguised 
as an Indian was recognized by Olotoraca, and brought to De 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 63 

Gourges. From him it was learned that the French force was 
estimated at quite two thousand men, and that the garrison of 
Fort Matteo (formerly Fort Carolin) was two hundred and sixty 
men. 

Hearing this report, De Gourges was more anxious than ever 
to make an immediate attack. He directed the Indians to ad- 
vance, some on each side of the river, and to take up a position 
in the vicinity of the fort. Early on the morning of the next 
day he moved his forces up the river, and, as he says, "gained 
a mountain covered with forests, at the foot of which was built 
the fort." He had not intended to attack the fort until the day 
after his arrival, but, while posting his men and the Indian forces, 
it happened * ' that the Spaniards made a sally with sixty arque- 
busiers * to reconnoiter his forces. " 

This body he succeeded in cutting off from the fort and totally 
destroying. Seeing the fate of so large a portion of their garri- 
son, the remainder of the Spaniards left the fort in the hopes 
that they might make their way to St. Augustine. Entering 
the woods they were everywhere met by the Indians. None 
escaped, and but few were taken alive. Entering the fort, the 
French found a number of fine cannon beside a great quantity of 
arms, "such as arquebuses, corslets, shields and pikes." 

The Frenchmen were now upon the scene of the massacre of 
their countrymen, and the taunting irony of the tablet erected by 
Menendez was before their eyes. The spirii of vengeance was 
aroused. Ordering all the Spaniards who had been taken alive 
to be led to the place where they had hung the Frenchmen, De 
Gourges rebuked them in scathing terms. He declared they 

* The arquebuse was a rude musket exploded with a slow match. 



64 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

could never undergo the punishment which they deserved, but it 
was necessary to make an example of them that others might 
learn to keep the peace which they had so wickedly violated. 

"This said, they were tied up to the same trees where they had 
hung the Frenchmen, and in the place of the inscription which 
Peter Menendez had put over them containing these words in the 
Spanish language : * I do this not as to Frenchmen, but as to 
Lutherans ; ' Captain Gourges caused to be graven on a pine 
tablet with a hot iron : ' I do this not as to Spaniards or mari- 
ners, but as to traitors, robbers, and murderers.' " 

One of the Spaniards is said to have confessed that he had hung 
up five Frenchmen with his own hand, and acknowledged that 
God had brought him to the punishment he deserved. The next 
day while frying fish an Indian set fire to a train of powder laid by 
the Spaniards which had not been discovered, and the whole in- 
terior of the fort was thereby destroyed. Being aware that his 
forces were too weak to hold the country, and having accom- 
plished all that he had crossed the ocean to perform, De Gourges 
completed the destruction of the forts, and, bidding adieu to the 
Indians, sailed away for France. The fleet arrived at La Rochelle 
on the 6th of June, after a voyage of thirty-four days. The loss 
of life in the enterprise had been but ''a few gentlemen of good 
birth," a few soldiers in the attacks, and eight men on the patache 
or launch, which was lost at sea. Being received ''with all honor, 
courtesy, and kind treatment," by the citizens of La Rochelle, 
where he remained a few days, De Gourges then sailed for Bor- 
deaux. The Spaniards being advised of his arrival and what he 
had done in Florida, sent a large ship and eighteen launches to 
surprise and capture him. This formidable fleet arrived in the 
roadstead of La Rochelle the very day of his departure. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



65 



The head of De Gourges was demanded and a price set upon 
it by the King of Spain, but, though his acts were repudiated by 
the French king, he was protected and concealed by Marigny, 
President of the Council, and by the Receiver of Vacquieulx, until, 
after a time, he was the recipient of marked honors at the French 
court and died in 1582, "to the great grief of such as knew him." 

"That De Gourges deserves censure, cannot be denied ; but 
there will always exist an admiration for his courage and intrepid 
valor, with a sympathy for the bitter provocation under which he 
acted, both personal and national ; a sympathy not shared with 
Menendez, who visited his wrath upon the religious opinions of 
men, while De Gourges was the unauthorized avenger of un- 
doubted crime and inhumanity. Both acted in violation of the 
pure spirit of that Christianity which they alike professed to revere 
under the same form." * 

* Fairbanks' History of St. i\.ugustine, p. 107. 



CHAPTER X. 

RETURN OF MENENDEZ. — ATTEMPT TO CHRISTIANIZE THE INDIANS. — 

ATTACK UPON ST. AUGUSTINE BY SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. MURDER 

OF THE FRIARS. 

While these events were transpiring Menendez had completed 
his equipment, and sailed with a fresh supply of men and means 
for his colonies in Florida. His first information of the disaster 
which had overtaken his posts on the St. Johns was received after 
he arrived at St. Augustine. So humiliating a disaster as the 
capture of three of his forts well fortified and garrisoned with four 
hundred trained men, was the occasion of no little mortification 
and vexation to this gallant knight, especially since the victors 
were the avengers of the former colonists, and the forces that ac- 
complished the afi"air were so greatly outnumbered by his soldiers, 
who were also well defended by strong forts. To add to the dis- 
couragement the condition of the colony at St. Augustine was 
found to be most distressing. The garrison was nearly naked, 
the colonists half starved, and the attacks of the Indians growing 
more frequent and reckless as the weakness and despondency of 
the Spaniards became more apparent. The intrepid and indom- 
itable spirit of IMcnendez did not bend under these obstacles and 
reverses which would have crushed a nature of ordinary mold. 
His extraordinary and comprehensive genius opened away, in the 
midst of almost superhuman difficulties, for the maintenance of 

66 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



67 



his colony and the extension of the Ca'holic faith, the objects 
to which his life was now devoted. Perceiving the insecurity of 
the garrisons at a distance from each other and the principal post, 
he wisely concluded to preserve his forces entire at St. Augustine, 
and thus maintain the colony and a base of operations. The 
spread of the Catholic faith he determined to secure by inducing 
the different tribes of Indians to receive and support one or more 
missionaries or teachers. At the earnest solicitation of Menendez 
large numbers of priests, friars, and brothers of the various re- 
ligious orders of the Catholic Church had been sent to Florida by 
the King of Spain. Mission-houses were built all over the coun- 
try from the Florida capes on the south to the Chesapeake on the 
north and the Mississippi on the west, to which these teachers, 
being mostly Franciscans, were sent. By the mildness of their 
manners, the promises of future joys and rewards which their 
teachings declared, and the interest excited by the introduction 
of the arts of civilized life, they gained a powerful ascendency 
over the native tribes, that promised at one period the conversion 
of the whole North American Indian race to the religion and 
customs of their Christian teachers. This would have been an 
achievement that would have amply compensated for all the ef- 
forts, treasure, and lives expended by the Europeans in the con- 
quest of the New World. In fact it would have been a wonder- 
ful revolution that might well have been considered a miraculous 
dispensation of Providence. 

It is due to the grandly comprehensive conception of Menendez 
that there was initiated this plan of mission stations through the 
Floridas, which so nearly accomplished this happy result. That 
the ultimate success of the efforts to Christianize the Indians was 
not attained was probib'y owing to the political changes that oc- 



58 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, 



cur 



red in Europe in the eighteenth century. In both France and 
Spain the Jesuits fell into disgrace, and the most rigorous meas- 
ures of suppression and banishment were adopted against them. 
The Jesuit missions in Florida shared the fate of their order in the 
Old World, and thus was the encouraging prospect of Christianiz- 
ing the Indians swept away forever. 

Under Menendez and his immediate successors whom he 
named and who followed his counsels were founded those mission- 
ary establishments, whose ruins have been at a late period a sub- 
ject of curious investigation throughout Middle Florida. Romans 
("History of Florida," New York, 1775) states that in his time 
there was an old bell of one of these mission houses lying in the 
fields near Alachua. Hon. Wilkinson Call, United States Senator 
from Florida, who is somewhat of an antiquarian, has informed 
the writer that near his birthplace in Leon County are to be 
found the ruins of another of these Spanish missions. The early 
inhabitants of the region being filled with superstition and a be- 
lief that the ruins were the remains of an establishment of the 
buccaneers, threw the bell into a neighboring pond, from which 
it has been rescued within a late period. 

Menendez, finding that the interests of the colony were neg- 
lected at the Spanish Court, and that the maintenance of the 
colony was daily impoverishing himself, resolved to return perma- 
nently to Spain, where he hoped that his influence would be 
able to accomplish more benefit to the undertaking in Florida 
than could be expected to accrue from his presence in the terri- 
tory. Leaving the province under the command of his nephew, 
Don Pedro Menendez, he sailed for Spain in 1572. Upon his 
arrival all the honors of the court were lavished upon him, and 
his counsels were eagerly sought in the various affairs of state. 



1578] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 69 

He was not destined to enjoy his honbrs long, nor to reap new 
laurels in the European wars of the Spanish crown. In the 
midst of his glory his career was suddenly ended by his death 
from a fever, in 1574. His rank and memory are perpetuated in 
the Church of St. Nicholas, at Aviles, by a monument, on which 
is inscribed the following epitaph : 

'* Here lies buried the illustrious Captain Pedro Menendez de 
Aviles, a native of this City, Adelantado of the Province of Flor- 
ida, Knight Commander of Santa Cruz, of the Order of Santiago, 
and Captain General of the Oceanic Seas, and of the Armada 
which his Royal Highness collected at Santander in the year 
1574, where he died on the 17th of September, of that year, in 
the fifty-fifth year of his age." 

Following out the instructions of Menendez, De las Alas, now 
governor of Florida, assembled a council from the different mis- 
sions in the province (or the purpose of considering methods 
of extending the Catholic faith. In pursuance of the advice of 
this council embassies were sent to all the tribes of Indians for 
several hundred miles around St. Augustine. 

Spanish garrisons and many Spanish monks to teach the In- 
dians had already been received into the towns east of the Ap- 
palachicola River. In 1583 the Chickasaws, Tocoposcas, Apa- 
cas, Tamaicas, Apiscas and Alabamas, received the mission- 
aries. At this period the Catholic faith was recognized as far 
west as ihe Mississippi, and as far north as the mountains of 
Georgia. 

The Franciscans and Dominicans had been the first to repre- 
sent the monks in the New World. Afterward came the Fath- 
ers of Mercy, the Augustines, and the Jesuits. 

Although Florida was included in the diocese of the Bishop 



jQ HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. [1585 

of Cuba, it was decided to establish a convent of the Order of 
St. Francis at St. Augustine. I find the name originally given 
this convent was the "Conception of Our Lady," though it is 
generally referred to as St. Helena. 

This name St. Helena was applied to all the establishments 
throughout the province, of which the great Franciscan house 
at St. Augustine was to be the center. 

Sailing in September, 1585, there arrived soon after in the West 
Indies a fleet of twenty-six vessels which had been fitted out by pri- 
vate persons in England to cruise against the Spanish commerce, 
and placed under the command of Sir Francis Drake, with the 
vice-admirals Frobisher and Knolles. After sacking St. Jago, 
raising a contribution of twenty-five thousand ducats on St. 
Domingo, and doing great injury to the Spanish shipping in the 
Caribbean Seas, they steered for Florida on their homeward voy- 
age. Passing up the coast when abreast Anastatia Island, on 
the 8th of jMay, 1586, they sighted a tower or look-out sta- 
tion on the shore. Satisfied that it was some Spanish station 
the admiral ordered the boats manned and landed a body 
of troops on the island. Advancing toward the look-out, they 
perceived across the bay a fort, and further up a town built of 
wood. 

In defiance of King Philip's order prohibiting foreigners, on 
pain of death, from setting foot in the province of Florida, the 
admiral sent General Carlisle, of the land forces, with a small 
body of soldiers to enter the town. 

The sentinel on the island had probably retreated to the fort, 
as the Spaniards, without parley, opened fire upon the English 
boat as soon as it came within range of their guns. Perceiving 
that the Spaniards intended to oppose his landing, and having too 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 7 1 

small a force to make an attack upon the fort, General Carlisle 
withdrew to the vessels which were anchored oif the bar. That 
evening a small boat was observed approaching the fleet from 
across the bay. As the boat cajne near, the music of a fife was 
heard, and the breeze bore to the ears of the English the familiar 
notes of the Prince of Orange's march. The fifer proved to be a 
French musician who had been captured, probably with Ribault's 
men, and who had taken advantage of the panic which the pres- 
ence of the English fleet was then causing, to make his escape. 
He reported that the fort had been abandoned, and ofl'ered to 
conduct the English to the town. In the morning Sir 
Francis crossed the bay, and finding the fort deserted, as 
the Frenchman had reported, he took possession of the same and 
hoisted the English flag. The fort at that time was called San 
Juan de Pinos, and was but a rude structure built of logs and 
earth, and without a ditch. The palisades were built of cabbage 
palmettoes driven in the ground. The platforms were constructed 
by laying the bodies of pine trees horizontally on each other, and 
filling an intervening space with earth well rammed. Upon these 
platforms were mounted fourteen brass cannon, of what caliber is 
not mentioned. 

The garrison numbered one hundred and fifty soldiers. Their 
retreat had been so precipitous that they neglected to remove 
the paymaster's funds, and a chest containing ten thousand 
dollars in silver fell into the hands of the English. It is to 
be hoped that this unsoldierly conduct met with exemplary 
correction at the hands of the corregidors, after the British sailed 
away. 

"Whether the massive, iron-bound mahogany chest still (1858) 
preserved in the old fort is the same which fell into the hands of 



^2 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Drake, is a question for antiquarians to decide ; its ancient ap- 
pearance might well justify the supposition." * 

The next day the English marched toward the town ; but it is 
said that they were unable to proceed by land, owing to heavy 
rains having lately fallen, and therefore returned to the fort and 
embarked in boats. Proceeding up the sound, as the boats ap- 
proached the town, the Spaniards made a show of resistance ; but, 
on the first discharge from the British marines, they fled into the 
countr}-, leaving the town at the mercy of the invader. After pil- 
laging the town and destroying the gardens, Sir Francis Drake 
made no further delay, but continued on his voyage to England. 
The Spanish account says he burned the town in revenge for the 
killing of his sergeant-major. The place and this attack were 
considered of so much importance, that after the arrival of Sir 
Francis in England, an engraving of "Drake's descent upon St. 
Augustine '" was made, which *' represents an octagonal fort be- 
tween two streams ; at the distance of half a mile, another stream; 
beyond that the town with a look-out and two religious houses, 
one of which is a church and the other probably the house of the 
Franciscans, who had shortly before established a house of their 
order there. The town contains three squares lengthwise and 
four in width, with gardens on the west side. 

"Some doubt has been thrown on the actual site of the first 
settlement by this account ; but I think it probably stood consid- 
erably to the south of the present public square, between ihe bar- 



* Fairbanks' History of St. Augustine, p. 112. This chest has since been 
broken into fragments and sold to visitors as souvenirs of the old Spanish 
occupation. After the last chips had been disposed of, any old pieces of 
mahogany were substituted, until the memory of the chest had faded away, 
and the trade in mahogany splinters became unremunerative. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



n 



racks and the powder-house. Perhaps Maria Sanchez (Santa 
Maria) Creek may have then communicated with the bay near its 
present head, in wet weather and at high tides isolating the fort 
from the town. The present north ditch may have been the bed 
of a tide creek, and thus would correspond to the appearance 
presented by the sketch. It is well known that the north end of 
the city has been built at a much later period than the southern, 
and that the now vacant space below the barracks was once occu- 
■pied with buildings. Buildings and fields are shown on Anastatia 
Island, opposite the town. The relative position of the town, with 
reference to the entrance of the harbor, is correctly shown on the 
plan, and there seems no sufficient ground to doubt the identity 
of the present town with the ancient locality.'' * 

I have thought that the first town may have been built on the 
more western of the two peninsulas lying between Santa Maria 
Creek and St. Sebastian River. This would correspond with the 
plan published by Drake, and if we assume that the town, being 
built of wood, was entirely destroyed by Drake, and afterward re- 
built on its present site, the statement of Romans finds confirma- 
tion, that the first site, having been found ineligible, the location 
was changed to its present situation. At the time of Drake's in- 
vasion the town was said to be rapidly growing, and to have con- 
tained a church, a hall for the judges of Residencia, and other 
public buildings. 

The Spanish governor (Don Pedro Menendez, a nephew of 
the founder) set himself diligently to work to rebuild the 
town. In the prosecution of this work, a considerable pecu- 
niary assistance was received from Spain and Cuba, and it is 

* Fairbanks, pp. 113, 114. 



74 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

probable that the first stone buildings were erected about this 
period. 

Much attention was at this time devoted to the temporal and 
spiritual welfare of the Indians. Father Rogel, who had come to 
Florida with the Adelantado Pedro Menendez, had learned the 
Indian language, and at least one of the Indians had been taken 
to Spain, and instructed in the Spanish language and the tenets of 
the Church. The Indians were considered desirable neighbors, 
and were encouraged to dwell near the castle, and even within the 
city. On a map drawn as early as 1638 the spot now occupied 
by the old Catholic cemetery near the head of Tolomato Street is 
marked " Hermitage of our Lady of Guadalupe, with the terri- 
tory occupied by the Indians of the town Tolomato." Large 
numbers of Franciscan missionaries continued to arrive at St. 
Augustine, and adventurous monks, who had pined in their con- 
vents in ihe Old World for'more work to do, found room for their 
energies in Florida, as the adventurous soldiers had done before 
them. 

Early in the seventeenth century one of these Franciscans 
wrote a book called " La Doctrina Cristiana " in the Yemassee 
dialect. This volume, which is said to have been the first book 
written in the language of any of the North American Indians, has 
received an extended notice at the hands of Buckingham Smith, 
Esq. The labors of the missionaries were not without difficulties 
and discouragements, nor free from dangers. Toward the close 
of the sixteenth and at the beginning of the seventeenth century 
there were several of the worthy fathers who sacrificed their lives 
in noble eff"orts to instruct the Indians. 

Padre Martinez, accompanied by two other learned and pious 
priests, arrived off" the coast in a small vessel from Spain. Father 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 75 

Martinez, being blov/n ashore while reconnoitering the coast in 
a small boat, was murdered by the Indians of Fort George Island. 
His companions taking alarm at the fate of their brother returned 
at once to Cuba. 

In 1598 a most cruel and unprovoked assault was made by 
the Indians upon two pious fathers within sight of the castle at 
St. Augustine. Besides the Indian village near the gates there 
was anqther Indian town about a quarter of a mile north of the 
castle, situated on the creek called Cano de la Leche. The Span- 
iards called the place Nombre de Dios, and until after the English 
possession of Florida (1763-1784) there stood a stone chapel on 
the spot called " Nostra Senora de la Leche.'' This chapel was 
used by the English as a hospital, and fell into disuse and neglect 
after the Indian tribes ceased to reside peacefully in the vicinity 
of the town. As it was neither safe nor convenient for the in- 
habitants of the city to worship there, the vestments which had 
been given to the chapel by the King of Spain were removed. 
The crucifix taken from it is yet preserved in the cathedral 
at" St. Augustine. The ground on which this chapel stood is 
still owned by the Catholic Church, and a new chapel was built 
in 1874 by Bishop Verot on the ruins of the old church ; but the 
severe gale of 1878 unroofed this, and at present only two of the 
coquina walls are standing. The location is immediately ad- 
joining on the east the grounds of General Dent's cottage and 
young orange grove on the right, as you go out of the city gates 
by the shell road. The name of the Indian village here located 
was called Topiqui. 

Father Pedro de Corpa had established a chapel and mission 
at Tolomato, and Father Bias Rodriguez another at Topiqui. 
Among the pupils at Tolomato was the son of the chief of 



76 



HISTORY OF ST, AUGUSTINE. 



Guale, a province embraced by what is now called Amelia 
Island. This young chief was too full of animal spirits and the 
wild Indian nature to readily adopt habits required by the Fran- 
ciscans. Having repeatedly offended against the proprieties of 
the mission, Father Corpa was compelled to publicly censure his 
conduct; The high spirit of the young chief rebelled at this 
reproof, and ho- at once withdrew from the mission. The good 
priest anticipated no evil and sought no protection. Not so 
the young chief. His heart was full of bitterness. Gathering 
a band of warriors from his own nation, he returned to St. 
Augustine determined on revenge. Approaching Tolomato in 
the dusk of evening, he burst into the chapel, and murdered 
Father Corpa at the altar. The Indians then cut off the worthy 
father's head and set it upon a pole, while his body was cast into 
the woods and never found. The young chief urged that an end 
should be made of all the missionaries in the province, saying 
that the friars had heaped upon the Indians injuries, and robbed 
them of their liberty and customs, while promising them all man- 
ner of good things, of which none were as yet received ; and thus 
they were compelled to labor and be deprived of all the pleasures 
which their ancestors enjoyed, in the hopes of receiving heaven. 
The Indians of Tolomato were grieved at the death of their 
teacher, and urged the young chief to fly from the punishment 
which the Spanish governor would surely inflict. He replied 
that the Spaniards desired to make them all slaves, and that the 
penalty for the death of one priest was as severe as for the de- 
struction of the whole body. Thus urged, they followed their 
leader to the village of Topiqui, where they seized Father Ro- 
driguez, and informing him of the death of Father Corpa, 
declared that the same fate awaited him. In vain did the pious 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. yy 

friar reason, in vain did he supplicate them not to commit so 
foolish a sin. The arguments and tears of the priest were of no 
avail. Finding the Indians determined to take his life, he begged 
the privilege of saying a last mass. " The permission was given, 
and there for the last time the worthy father put on his robes, 
which might well be termed his robes of sacrifice. The wild 
and savage crowd, thirsting for his blood, reclined upon the 
floor, and looked on in sullen silence, awaiting the conclusion 
of the rites. The priest alone, standing before the altar, pro- 
ceeded with this most sad and solemn mass, then cast his eyes to 
heaven and knelt in private supplication, where the next moment 
he fell under the blows of his cruel foes, bespattering the altar at 
which he ministered with his own life's blood. His crushed 
remains were thrown into the fields, that they might serve for the 
fowls of the air or the beasts of the forests ; but not one would 
approach them except a dog, which, rushing forward to lay hold 
upon the body, fell dead upon the spot, says the ancient chron- 
icle ; and an old Christian Indian, recognizing it, gave it sepul- 
ture in the forest." * 

Other missions also were destroyed by this mad band of sav- 
ages, but the zeal of the Franciscans was unabated, and they con- 
tinued for several years to make many converts among the Indians. 

In 1611 the prelate St. Francisco Marroz, ''custodio from the 
convent of St. Francisco of the Havanna, together with the St. 
Helena/' Fr. Miguel de Annon, and Fr, Pedro de Chocas, fell 
martyrs by the hands of the Indians, who are said to have pillaged 
the town after having driven the inhabitants to seek protection 
under the guns of the fort or stockade. 

* Fairbanks, p. 119. 



^8 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

The now-apparent danger of a total destruction of the settle- 
ment by the Indians, who had begun to learn their own strength 
and the weakness of the Spaniards, opened the eyes of the 
governor to the necessity of more effective defense of the town. 
The plan of defense, embracing the castle and lines of stockades 
at both ends of the town with stone bastions, was initiated in the 
early part of the seventeenth century, though not completed for 
many years. 

In 1640 many Apalachian Indians were brought to St. Au- 
gustine, and compelled to labor on the fort and at other works of 
defense. These Indians were nominally hostages for the allegi- 
ance of a very numerous tribe who lived in Middle Florida, and 
had made numerous ravages on the Spanish missions between 
1635 and 1638. Finding peaceful measures of no avail, the Span- 
iards marched against them, and, after several victories, brought 
away a large number of captives. These were kept steadily 
at work until 1702, when they were released through the efforts 
of the Franciscan friars. This remission, however, was granted 
by the Spanish crown only during the peaceful conduct of their 
tribe, and until their services should again be required. It does 
not appear that the Apalachians ever again labored on the fort. 



[1655-1737.] 
CHAPTER XI. 

PLUNDER OF THE TOWN BY CAPTAIN DAVIS. REMOVAL OF THE YEMAS- 

SEE INDIANS. — CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORT. BUILDING OF THE 

FIRST SEA-WALL. ATTACKS OF GOVERNOR MOORE AND COLONEL 

PALMER. 

The town of St, Augustine had continued to grow, and 
ninety years after its foundation was said to contain three hun- 
dred householders. This statement may be correct, as the town 
was afterward partly burned (1702), though Romans, more than 
a hundred years later, says there were not three hundred houses 
in his time. 

The parish church at this period (1655) was said to have been 
built of wood, as the bishop of the diocese (Cuba and Florida) 
was unable to provide a better structure, his income being less 
than five hundred dollars per annum. In 1771 De Brahm says 
the churches were all built of stone. The city was allowed 
during the latter part of the seventeenth century a vicar, a paro- 
chial curate, and a superior sacristan, and a chaplain was attached 
to the fort. The convent of St. Francis was in a prosperous con- 
dition, having under its charge fifty brethren, greatly respected 
and very zealous for the conversion of the Indians. 

In 1665 Captain Davis, an English buccaneer, sailed from the 
West Indies along the Florida coast for the purpose of intercept- 
ing the Spanis-h treasure fleet returning from Mexico. While 
waiting their coming he plundered St. Augustine as a diversion, 
no opposition being made by the inhabitants, who retired into the 

79 



8o HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

fort to assist the garrison of two hundred men in defending this 
structure. The castle was at that time an octagon flanked by two 
round towers. 

In J 584 Captains Barlow and Armada, by the authority of Sir 
Walter Raleigh, had taken possession of the rivers and lands of 
the northern coast of Florida (South Carolina). As late as 1663 
England claimed Florida as a part of the Carolinas, and in the 
right acquired by Henry VII. from its discovery by Cabot. In 
1670 an English colony was established near Beaufort, South 
Carolina. The Spaniards resented this encroachment upon their 
territory, and in 1675 projected an attack upon the South Caro- 
lina colony, which was unsuccessful. These attacks and counter- 
attacks between the Spanish and English continued until the 
Spanish evacuation in 1763. 

In 1680 Don Juan Marquezde Cabrera, having been appointed 
governor, entered vigorously upon the work of strengthening the 
defenses of the town and extending the work of the missions. 

Soon after entering upon his duties the governor became 
annoyed at the hostile conduct, either real or fancied, of Chief 
Nichosatly of the Yemassees. This tribe of Indians was very 
powerful, and possessed many flourishing towns in Florida, lying 
adjacent to the English settlements on the north. 

Cabrera accused him of rendering aid to the British settlers, 
contrary to his duties as a subject of the King of Spain. 

Nichosatly denied having assisted the English, and professed 
loyalty to the Spaniards and the Catholic religion. 

Cabrera was unwilling to trust his assurances, and condemned 
him to be publicly executed as a traitor. This conduct was as 
extraordinary as was that of the Indian ; for it is siid that he ex- 
hibited a remarkable Christian temper, forgiving his enemies, and 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 8 1 

exhorting his friends not to avenge his death. This advice was 
not followed, ^ unfortunately for the Spanish interests. The Eng- 
lish used this injury to excite the Yemassees to a fierce war, and 
the Spaniards were soon driven from all their settlements north of 
the St. Johns River. Cabrera was soon after recalled in disgrace 
by the King of Spain, but the evil he had done was irreparable, 
and from this time the Spanish influence among the Indians be- 
gan to decline. 

Governor Cabrera had accumulated a large quantity of mate- 
rial, consisting of stone, oyster-shell lime, cement, timber, and 
iron for the prosecution of the work on the fort. His successors 
continued to collect supplies as fast as their means would allow. 
From 1693 to 1701 the governor, Laureano de Torrez-y-Ayala, 
kept constantly in operation two lime-kilns. He also had thirty 
stone-cutters employed in getting out the stone from the quarries 
on Anastatia Island, and eight yokes of oxen hauling the co- 
quina to the landing on Quarry Creek. 

In 1687 Don Juan de Aila volunteered to go to Spain and pro- 
cure for the colony the assistance of men and supplies, of which 
it stood in great need. This he did, providing his own vessel, 
and, as a reward for his efforts, the Spanish crown granted him a 
permit to import merchandise free of duty, and also to carry with 
him twelve negro slaves. " By a mischance, he was only able to 
carry one negro there, with the troops and other cargo, and was 
received in the city with universal joy. This was the first occa- 
sion of the reception of African slaves." * 

* Fairbanks, p. 128. This statement is evidently in error, as I have 
shown from Laudonnere's account that Menendez brought negro slaves ; 
moreover, the residents of the asylum of all slaves escaping from the British 
colonies, and those captured by the Indians under a standing reward, would 
hardly rejoice over the arrival of one negro. 
4* 



82 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. [1690 

The Count de Galvez, Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico includ- 
ing Florida) seems to have felt great interest in the Spanish 
settlement of St. Augustine. Upon his recommendation the 
council of the Indies appropriated in 1691 ten thousand dollars 
for building a sea-wall from the castle to the city, and two years 
after a further sum of six thousand dollars for building a look- 
out. 

The work upon the sea-wall had already been begun by the 
governor, Don Diego de Quiroga-y-Lozada, with what means the 
local authorities and citizens could supply. 

In 1690, finding the sea was making great encroachments, and 
threatened to undermine the houses, having washed with great 
force and effect upon the light sands of the water-front, and even 
up to the very dwellings, the governor called a meeting of the 
chief citizens of the town to. take the subject under consideration. 
It was decided by the chief men that, in order to prevent the total 
loss of the great sums that had already been invested in the fort 
and other defenses of the town, and to protect the place from 
gradual destruction, and being unfitted for habitation, it was neces- 
sary to build a wall from the glacis of the fort to the public square 
on the north of the city, which should be a defense against the 
force of the sea. Two thous:\nd dollars were contributed, of which 
the soldiers are said to have donated seventeen hundred, although 
their wages were six years in arrears. 

The wall, which was begun at this time, was a slight structure, 
and extended only to the present basin in front of the plaza. To 
one who has seen the water, in severe north-easters, dashing over 
the present sea-wall, it seems strange that the Spaniards had not 
built a more extensive and efficacious protection against the sea 
for their metropolitan town in North America. One of the old 



1702] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 83 

citizens informs me that the tide rose so high during a severe 
storm in the fall of 18 11, that boats passed freely over the streets, 
and the inhabitants were all obliged to withdraw from the lower 
story of the houses. 

In 1693, Governor Don Laureano de Torrez received another 
thousand dollars contributed out of their wages by the soldiers, 
and also further assistance from the home government, with which 
he continued the building of the sea-wall, and the work on the 
fort. It is probably about this time that the Mexican convicts 
were employed in the construction of the castle. At one time 
there was said to have been one hundred and forty of these con- 
victs in service at St. Augustine. 

For several years the Spaniards had greatly harassed the English 
settlers in the Carolinas, having made incursions in 1675, ^^'■^ 
again in 1681, and, as a fixed policy, incited the Indians to make 
inroads to ravage the unprotected settlements, and carry off 
plunder, especially negroes. Many demands were made on the 
Spanish authorities for the negroes thus carried away, and also 
those who escaped ; but the Spaniards invariably refused to sur- 
render the slaves, alleging that the King of Spain felt it his duty 
to keep the negroes under the influence of the Catholic religion. 

In 1702 Governor Moore of South Carolina determined to re- 
taliate upon the Spaniards for their conduct toward the English, 
by the capture of the town of St. Augustine. He induced the 
legislature to vote him aid to the extent of two thousand pounds 
sterling, and to authorize the enlistment of six hundred volun- 
teers, and an equal number of Creek and Yemassee Indians. Im- 
pressing a number of merchant ships into service as transports, 
the troops were taken to Port Royal as a rendezvous, wiiere Gov- 
ernor Moore joined them in September of the same year. Colo- 



84 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



nel Daniel, who is described as the life of the expedition, was made 
second in command, and ordered to proceed through the inland 
passages of the St. Johns River, and thence to attack St. Augus- 
tine by land, while the governor should enter the harbor and at- 
tack the city from his ships. The Spaniards, having notice of the 
advance, retired into the castle with their valuables, and a store of 
provisions to maintain them for four months. Colonel Daniel 
arrived behind the town before Governor Moore's fleet came to 
the harbor, and meeting with no resistance, entered at once and 
secured a considerable plunder which the inhabitants had been 
unable to remove. The next day Governor Moore arrived and en- 
tered upon a regular siege, so that the Spaniards were obliged to 
lie quietly within the walls of the castle. Moore, finding that his 
cannon were too liarht to effect a breach in the walls of the fort 
sent a vessel to Jamaica for guns of a larger caliber. This vessel 
not returning, he sent Colonel Daniel in a second on the same 
errand. While his lieutenant was thus absent there appeared in 
sight two Spanish vessels, one of twenty-two and the other of 
sixteen guns. At sight of these Moore was stricken with such a 
panic that he abandoned his ships and fled across the country to 
Charleston. He is said, however, to have first burned the town (in 
part only, it is most likely), and to have previously sent to Jamaica 
the church plate and other costly church ornaments and utensils. 
This is quite likely, as the English troops occupied the parish 
church immediately on their entrance into the town. 

Colonel Daniel secured the munitions for which he was sent, 
and promptly returned to St. Augustine, rejoicing in the thought 
that the place was now in their power. Entering the harbor he 
first learned of Moore's retreat upon being chased by the Span- 
ish ships, from which he narrowly escaped. 



1 706-1 7 1 7] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 85 

This expedition cost the English colony six thousand pounds, 
for which they received only disgrace, having accomplished noth- 
ing but the imprisonment of the Spaniards for a period of three 
months. At the termination of the siege, the inhabitants at 
once applied themselves to repairing and rebuilding their houses, 
and the governor, Don Joseph de Zufiiga, received liberal aid 
from Spain in rebuilding and strengt^hening the town. 

In 1706 the French and Spaniards under Mons. La Febour 
entered the harbor of St. Augustine on their way to attack 
Charleston. Taking a part of the garrison of the fort they pro- 
ceeded on their voyage, but were obliged to retreat without ac- 
complishing anything. 

In 1 71 7 the Spanish governor, Don Juan de Ayola y Esco- 
bar, procured a general combination of the Yemassee, Creek, 
Apalache, Congaree, Catauba, and Cherokee Indians, against the 
English settlements in Carolina. 

A year after Don Antonio de Benavuedi y Malina, having 
been appointed governor, put a stop to the Indian hostilities 
against the English. 

He seems to have entertained a very unfavorable opinion of 
the Indians, which he exhibited in an unreasonable decree 
against the Yemassees, exiling this tribe to a distance six leagues 
south of St. Augustine. The Yemassees remonstrated with the 
new governor against this order ; stating to him that although 
at one time they had joined the English, after the execution of 
their Chief Nichosatly, yet they had since repented of that fault, 
and fought against them in behalf of the Spaniards ; that it 
would be a grievous act to drive them from their fields of corn, 
and their houses, while the English were their enemies ; that 
they revered the Catholic king and the holy Church, and desired 



86 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. [1725 

to have its rites administered to them, and wished to live in 
peace. 

The governor was obdurate, and ordered Captain Ortagas to 
execute his order with the troops. Thus this powerful nation, 
abandoning their fields almost ripe for harvest, and many cattle 
and hogs, were compelled to make new homes in the wilderness. 
It is said that many women, children, and infirm persons were 
left on Amelia Island ; that the English killed four hundred 
when they found that the Indians were abandoning the coun- 
try ; and that of the three thousand who had resided between St. 
Augustine and the St. Mary's River, at the end of a year from 
their removal, not one-third had survived the vengeance of their 
enemies and hunger and disease. The removal of this tribe of 
Indians was impolitic on the part of the Spaniards, as the Eng- 
lish soon after took possession of their lands, which lay between 
the English and Spanish settlements. 

In 1725 the disputes between the English and Spaniards cul- 
minated in hostilities. The Spaniards charged the English with 
intruding on their lands, and the English retorted that the Span- 
iards had enticed away their negroes and incited the Indians 
against their settlements. The Spanish governor recalled the 
Yemassees, and having armed and equipped a body of warriors 
under their chief Mocano, sent them into Georgia, where they 
committed a general massacre. 

Colonel Palmer of that colony raised a body of three hundred 
Ny'militia, and entered Florida, burning and destroying every Span- 
ish and Indian settlement to the very gates of St. Augustine. 
The Spanish inhabitants of the country and town fled into the 
fort for safety ; but, with execrable meanness, excluded the poor 
Indians, who were nearly all killed or made prisoners. The 



1737] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. ^ 8/ 

Spaniards saved only what could be protected by the guns of 
the fort, which was then quite a formidable work. 

The chapel of Nostra Senora de la Leche, the location of which 
has been described, was plundered by some of the soldiers. .They 
stripped it of the gold and silver vessels, and taking the infant 
image from the arms of the figure of the Virgin Mary, brought 
it to Colonel Palmer, who was encamped two miles north of the 
city gates. This piece of sacrilege, however, was displeasing to 
the commander, who told the soldiers that the Spaniards would 
one day be revenged upon them. Having accomplished all he 
could hope from his small force, Colonel Palmer retired with a 
great booty of cattle and other plunder. 

In 1737 Governor Don Manuel de Monteano, soon after tak- 
ing command of the province, made the following report to the 
Governor-general of Cuba: ''The fort of this place is its only 
defense ; it has no casemates for the shelter of the men, nor the 
necessary elevation of the counter-scarp, nor covert ways, nor 
ravelins to the curtains, nor other exterior works, that could give 
time for a long defense ; but it is thus naked outside, as it is 
without soul within, for there are no cannon that could be fired 
twenty-four hours." The representations of the governor received 
prompt attention at the Spanish Court, where it had now become 
recognized that the Spanish possessions in America were endan- 
gered, and unless St. Augustine was maintained, they would be 
irrecoverably lost. ' 

Large appropriations of money were sent, and a garrison of 
seven hundred regular troops, and a number of new cannon 
assigned to the castle. With the means thus provided, the 
governor applied himself with great energy and skill in putting 
the fort in an excellent state of defense. The superintendence 



88 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

of the work was assigned to Don Antonio de Arredondo, an offi- 
cer who ranked well among engineers. Bomb-proofs were con- 
structed, a covered way made, the ramparts heightened and case- 
mated, and redoubts extended across either end of the town, in 
which there were ten salient angles. * 

Romans states that two of these salient angles or bastions, built 
of stone, stood in the southern line of redoubts, but were broken 
down by the English, and the material used for the foundation 
of the new barracks. From the statements of old residents, I am 
satisfied that one or more stood near the present saw-mills, and 
commanded the approach by the old road across the marshes of 
the St. Sebastian. 

It is probable that the credit is due Don Arredondo for the 
symmetry and beauty of outline in the general design of the 
fort, and also for the perfection of the lines, curves, and angles in 
the masonry. The noble conception and perfection of detail 
throughout the work demonstrates the engineer to have been a 
man of excellent abilities, and proficient in the higher mathemat- 
ics, '' one of the sublimest realms of human thought." 

Some of the curves in the masonry within the casemates are 
beautiful pieces of design. The compound circular and elliptic 
arch, or three-centered circular arch, which supports the incline 
leading from the terre-plein to the court, is said to have presented 
a problem too difficult for the United States engineer in charge of 
the repairs after the change of flags. It will be seen that the 
north side of the arch having fallen has been patched with a rec- 
tilinear wall, and the symmetry of the elegant lines destroyed. 



* See Souvenir Album of St. Augustine for a view of the old light- 
house, which exhibits a salient angle protecting the gate of the inclosing 
wall. 



CHAPTER XII. 
Oglethorpe's attack. — bombardment of the fort and town. — 

CAPTURE of the HIGHLANDERS AT FORT MOSA. OLD FORT AT 

MATANZAS. MONTEANO'S INVASION OF GEORGIA. 

In 1740 Governor Oglethorpe of Georgia, being encouraged 
by King George II., determined to capture St. Augustine, and 
thus drive the Spaniards from Florida. At his request the Caro- 
lina colonies sent him a body of four hundred troops under Col- 
onel Vanderdussen. He also equipped a body of Creek Indians, 
and in May had rendezvoused at the mouth of the St. Johns 
River a force of two thousand men. With a portion of this force 
he attacked a small fort called Diego, situated on what is now 
known as Diego Plains (called by the inhabitants Dago), twenty- 
five miles north of St. Augustine, then the estate of Don Diego 
de Spinosa. The remains of this fort and several cannon were to 
be seen until a late date. 

Having taken the fort after a slight resistance, he left the same 
in charge of Lieutenant Dunbar, and returned to the St. Johns 
River to await the arrival of more troops, and to allow Commo- 
dore Price, R. N., to blockade the harbor of St. Augustine with 
his fleet, consisting of four vessels of twenty guns each. 

From the prisoners captured at Diego it was learned that the 
Spaniards had lately received a reinforcement of six half galleys, 
armed with several long brass nine-pounders, and two sloops 

89 



^O HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

loaded with provisions, besides which all the cattle in the neigh- 
borhood had been driven into town. The prisoners, iie says, 
"agree that thereare fifty pieces of cannon in the castle, several 
of which are of brass, from twelve to forty-eight pounds. It has 
four bastions. The walls are of stone and casemated. The in- 
ternal square is sixty yards. The ditch is forty feet wide and 
twelve feet deep, six of which are sometimes filled with water. 
The counter-scarp is faced with stone. They have lately made a 
covered way by embanking four thousand posts. The town is 
fortified with an intrenchment, salient angles, and redoubts, which 
inclose about half a mile in length and a quarter of a mile in 
width. The inhabitants and garrison, men, women, and children 
amount to above two thousand live hundred. For the garrison 
the king pays eight companies, sent from Spain two years since, 
fifty-three men each ; three companies of foot and one of artillery 
of the old garrison, and one troop of horse, one hundred each." 

This estimate would make the garrison about nine hundred 
and twenty-four men, which was probably within the whole num- 
ber of fighting men, as another account says there were in the 
town at the time, the seven hundred regulars assigned from Spain 
two companies of horse, and four companies of negroes, besides 
Indians. These negroes were probably free men, as it is else- 
where stated that they had their own officers, and though armed, 
by the governor, provided themselves. 

Oglethorpe having been joined by more troops marched across 
the country, ordering the forces at Diego to advance as far as Fort 
Stosa, two miles north of St. Augustine, while he made an at- 
tack on the fort at Picolata. This fort was called St. Francis de 
Poppa, and commanded the approaches from West Florida and 
Mexico, and the ferry across the St. Johns Riyer. Its remains 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. gi 

existed until a short time since, and even yet the ditch can be 
traced upon the grounds of Mr. Michael Usina. If the testimony 
of the old residents can be relied upon, Forbes and Vignoles in 
their histories have fallen into error as to the location of this old 
Spanish fortification, describing it as on the west side of the river, 
while the old citizens call the fort at Picolata "Fort Poppa." 

Forbes says Picolata's ancient fort was built by the "Spaniards 
with square towers thirty feet high and a deep ditch about it, 
which is now partly filled up. The stone was brought from Anas- 
tatia Island. On the opposite side is Fort Poppa, with shallow 
intrenchments twenty yards square and as many from the river. 
A small distance back is another turret of the , same size, and 
some groves of orange trees and oaks." 

Vignoles' description (1823) is as follows : " Of the old block- 
house of Picolata nothing remains except two of the shattered 
walls, through which loop-holes and meutrferes are pierced. It 
stands on a low bluff, and is half concealed by the luxuriant 
branches of surrounding trees. It reminds the visitor who views it 
from the river of the deserted castellated residence of some ancient 
feudal lord. Opposite is Fort Poppa, of which scarce a vestige re- 
mains." 

William Bartram, in his "Travels through Florida," pub- 
lished in Philadelphia, 1791, gives an interesting description of this 
fort which I will also quote, as I find all knowledge of these old 
relics is fast being effaced from memory and accessible records. 
Describing his sail up the St. Johns River, he says : "At noon I 
came abreast of Fort Picolata, where, being desirous of gainings 
yet further intelligence [about it], I landed, but to my disappoint- 
ment found the fort dismantled. This fortress is very ancient and 
was built by the Spaniards. It is a square tower, thirty feet high, 



Q2 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

pierced with loop-holes and surrounded with a deep ditch. The 
upper story is open on each side, with battlements supporting a 
cupola or roof. These battlements were formerly mounted with 
eight four-pounders, two on each side. 

' ' The work was constructed with hewn stone, cemented with 
lime. The stone was cut out of the quarries on St. Anastatia 
Island, opposite St. Augustine." Williams calls the fort on the 
west side of the river Fort '' San Fernando." 

Oglethorpe captured the Fort at Picolata without difficulty, 
and after considerable delay advanced his whole force upon St. Au- 
gustine. The fleet, which had by this time arrived, was moored 
across the harbor, and one vessel stationed off the mouth of Ma- 
tanzas River, to prevent the arrival of supplies from that quarter. 
A company of eighty Scotch settlers from Georgia, all dressed 
in Highland costume, together with forty Indians, were stationed 
at Fort Mosa, under Colonel Palmer, with orders to avoid a bat- 
tle, but to be vigilant in scouring the country, to intercept all 
supplies, and to encamp every night at a different place. Colonel 
Vanderdussen, who had marched from the St. Johns River by the 
beach, was ordered to build a battery at Point Quartell (north 
beach), while Oglethorpe, with a regiment of Georgians and the 
main body of the Indians, landed on Anastatia Island, and began 
the construction of a battery at the north end of the main island. 
Aware that his force was too small to carry an assault on the 
castle, to which the inhabitants and forces had all retired, Ogle- 
thorpe determined to reduce the fort by bombardment, while he 
cut off all supplies by a blockade. The site of the first battery 
constructed on the island has long since become the channel of 
the river. The high ridge to the west of the lighthouse, on which 
Mr. Aspinwall has lately built a small building, probably extended 



HISTORY OF ST, AUGUSTINE. 



93 



at least half a mile north of the present shore line. It was on 
this ridge that Oglethorpe built his first battery, and having 
mounted in it several eighteen-pound cannon, he sent a message 
to the Spanish governor summoning him to surrender. 

The governor, Don Manuel de Monteano, a very brave and 
efficient officer, replied that he would be pleased to shake hands 
with General Oglethorpe in the fort. The general, being indig- 
nant at such a reply, opened fire upon the place, which was kept 
up with spirit, and many shells were thrown into the town, caus- 
ing the citizens to seek shelter within the walls of the castle. The 
Spaniards replied with the cannon in the fort, and also diverted 
the attention of the British with the maneuvers of the six galleys 
with their batteries of nine-pounders. Captain Warren, a brave 
officer from the fleet, offered to lead an attack on these galleys in 
the night ; but it was decided that the plan was too dangerous, as 
the galleys lay at night under the guns of the fort, where the water 
was too shoal to bring up any large vessels to cover the attacking 
party. Finding the distance too great for his fire to injure the 
fort, Oglethorpe began the construction of a second battery on the 
marsh of the island, nearer the town. This battery was called 
Battery Poza, and mounted four eighteen-pound cannon. The 
remains of this battery are still to be seen. It is located on an 
island in the marsh, and reached from the bay by ascending a 
small creek, navigable for boats at half tide. Oglethorpe is said 
to have buried an eighteen-pound cannon in this battery when 
the siege was raised, which may yet be beneath the sand of the re- 
doubts. 

While engaged in the construction of Battery Poza, the fire of 
the British was somewhat relaxed. Observing this, Governor 
Monteano sent out a detachment of three hundred men and a 



94 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

party of Yemassee Indians, to attack Colonel Palmer at Fort 
Mosa. It is said the sally was made on the night of the king's 
birthday, and that the British were found drinking and carousing. 
The former statement is incorrect, though the latter may be true. 
Colonel Palmer was a brave and able officer, but he seems to have 
had Scotch obstinacy, united with undisciplined men, to render 
his authority nugatory. 

The camp was surprised and the Highlanders quickly over- 
come after Colonel Palmer was slain and the soldiers who were 
vigilant had been killed or made their escape. There was a tra- 
dition that Colonel Palmer was killed by Wakona, the Yemassee 
chief, on the spot where the soldiers had brought him the infant 
image fifteen years before. 

This loss was a severe blow to the expedition, not so much 
from the loss of the men, but its effect was to depress the spirits 
of the command and to greatly discourage the Indians, who soon 
after found an excuse to withdraw. A Cherokee having killed a 
Spaniard, cut off his head and brought it to Oglethorpe, who 
spurned the Indian and called him a barbarous dog. This rebuff 
was made a pretext by the Indians for their desertion, and, with- 
out making known their intentions, soon after they were gone. 

Meantime the bombardment continued ; but it was found that, 
even from the nearest battery, the shot produced little effect upon 
the walls of the castle. The siege, which was commenced on the 
13th of June, had now continued into July, with only disastrous 
results. The soldiers began to wilt under the extreme heat, and 
complain of the annoyance of the sandflies and mosquitoes. To 
add to the difficulty sickness appeared, and the men, never under 
very good control, began to desert in squads, and return across 
the country to their homes. The commodore, ffiiding his pro- 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 95 

visions becoming short, and fearing the autumn gales, was unwill- 
ing to remain longer on the station. The ship at Matanzas had 
already withdrawn. The inlet being unguarded, the Spaniards 
soon succeeded in bringing in a large supply of provisions, of 
which they now stood in great need. Learning that the Spaniards 
had received succor, the troops lost all hope, and the siege was 
soon after raised. 

It would seem, from the accounts of this blockade and the fact 
that supplies were brought in at Matanzas Inlet, that the old fort 
at Matanzas was not then standing. If this is the case, it must 
have been constructed immediately after Oglethorpe's departure, 
as the Spaniards had had a garrison in it before the English occu- 
pation, as will be seen from the following extract from Romans : 
"Twenty miles south [of St. Augustine] is the look-out or fort 
of Matanca, on a marshy island commanding the entrance of Ma- 
tanca, which lays opposite to it. This fort is to be seen at a dis- 
tance of about five leagues. It is of very litUe strength, nor need 
it be otherwise, as there is scarce eight feet of water on this bar at 
the best of times. The Spaniards kept a lieutenant in command 
here ; the English a sergeant. Between two or ^iree miles from 
this inlet or bar is another of still less note, called El Penon. 
Matanca Bar is known from the sea by the fort, which shows 
white in a clear day, when the inlet bears west, three leagues off." 

I have been unable to find out at what date this fort was con- 
structed. The natural features have greatly changed since the 
time of Romans even. The island has been very much washed 
away by the current, and will soon cease to exist at all. The bar, 
which must have been nearly opposite the island, has gradually 
worked south until now it is nearly half a mile below the fort, and 
a high sand ridge, a part of Anastatia Island, is between the fort 



g5 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

and the ocean, so that, instead of being visible three leagues at 
sea, the fort, probably, would not be seen from the ocean at all.* 
Soundings on Matanzas Bar are now given as one fathom. Fort 
Mosa, where Colonel Palmer was killed, was built by the negro 
refugees from the British colonies, and was often called the Negro 
Fort. It was a square earthwork with four bastions, containing a 
well and a house with a look-out, and surrounded with a ditch. 
The walls of a stone house are still standing near the location of 
this fort, at a place called by the town's people "Moses," north 
of Mr. Hildreth's grounds. 

Oglethorpe was greatly blamed at the time for his failure to take 
St. Augustine, but it is evident that the town was well protected. 
The north side of the peninsula, on which the town is built, 
was defended by the fort, about which, for a space of fifteen hun- 
dred yards, a clear space was maintained by the Spanish governors, 
and also by the ditch and redoubt with salient angles running 
from the fort to the St. Sebastian River ; upon the east side of 
the town the galleys and the guns of the fort could prevent a land- 
ing, as the water upon the bar was too shoal to admit the passage 
of the English ships ; upon the south was a line of redoubts 
again with cannon, and a water front for the approach of the gal- 
leys, while upon the west was the long stretch of boggy marshes 
extending for a quarter of a mile to the St. Sebastian River. 
No place could be better situated for defense. Had the blockade 
been efficient and long-continued the town must have surren- 
dered as there w^as a large population to feed besides the garrison, 
and the very advantages of the place for defense rendered it diffi- 
cult to bring in supplies. 

* For an excellent view of this old fort, see Souvenir Album of Views 
in St. Augustine. 



1472 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 97 

Governor Monteano was constantly sending messages to Cuba, 
by the way of West Florida and the Keys, for succor of provisions, 
and was said to have received supplies from a vessel which arrived 
at Mosquito Inlet, while the harbor of Matanzas was yet block- 
aded. 

The siege was abandoned on the loth of July. During the 
bombardment one hundred and fifty-three shells fell in the town, 
but occasioned no loss of life, and did very little damage. That 
the fire from the batteries was very ineffectual is evident from an 
inspection of the shot-hcles in the walls of the old fort made by 
the guns of Oglethorpe's batteries which are still visible. I have 
counted eight indentations on the eastern face of the main fort, 
and two on the south-east bastion. Their penetration was barely 
sufficient to bury the solid shot, while the shell do not appear to 
have done any injury, thus exhibiting an ineff'ectiveness of the ar- 
tillery which seems remarkable, as there were said to have been 
thirty mortars large and small, and ten eighteen-pound cannon in 
the different batteries erected by Oglethorpe, of which the farthest 
was not more than three-quarters of a mile distant. 

This attack of Oglethorpe seems to have demonstrated to the 
Spanish crown the likelihood of an English occupation of their 
possessions in Florida. The following year large reinforcements 
were sent to Governor Monteano, with instructions to improve the 
defenses of the town in every possible way. 

Finding the British colonists did not renew their attack on the 
town as he had anticipated, Monteano advised an invasion of 
Georgia and South Carolina. Accordingly an army of two thou- 
sand men was raised in Cuba, which, being dispatched to St. Au- 
gustine, was placed under the command of Governor Monteano. 
To this force the governor added one thousand men from the gar- 
5 



p8 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. [1743 

rison of the town, including a regiment of negroes, whose officers 
are said to have dressed, ranked, and associated with the Spanish 
officers without reserve.* 

With this force Monteano entered upon the invasion of Georgia ; 
but, being opposed by Oglethorpe with great energy and skill, was 
entirely unsuccessful, and the expedition retired to St. Augustine. 
From thence the forces returned to Cuba, where the governor 
was imprisoned and tried for misconduct, though acquitted of the 
charges. 

In the next year Oglethorpe endeavored to retaliate upon the 
Spaniards, and get possession of St. Augustine by a sudden at- 
tack which should take the town by surprise. He is said to have 
approached with such celerity and secresy that he arrived within 
sight of the town without exciting an alarm. Here he captured 
a small body of troops acting as a guard to the king's workmen. 
This capture defeated the success of his surprise, for, the absence 
of the guard being noticed, a body of horsemen were sent out to 
learn the cause of their detention, and the forces of Oglethorpe were 
discovered in time to close the city gates and prepare the garrison. 
Oglethorpe was unwilling to risk an assault on the town, and re- 
tired into Georgia, after spending two months in attempting to 
provoke the Spaniards to a fight without the walls of the town. 
During this time his troops completely devastated the surround- 
ing country. 

Up to about this period there had existed an Indian village 
near the site of Fort Mosa (or Moosa) called Macarizi. It was 
probably located on a creek now called ''Baya's Creek," about 
two miles north of the city, though the Franciscan Father Ayeta, 

* Williams' Florida, p. 185. 



1 748-1763] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. qq 

in his ''La Verdad Defendida," p. 215, says that Macarizi and 
Nombre de Dios (Topiqui) were the same. 

Soon after Oglethorpe retired Governor Monteano furnished 
arms and ammunition to one Pedro Christano, a Spanish Indian 
chief among the Yemassees, and incited incursions against the 
British colonists in Georgia. These were continued under the 
encouragement of the Spaniards until the settlements south of 
St. Simonds Island were entirely broken up. These hostilities, 
which had continued since 1725, were mutually suspended under 
the treaty which was concluded between England and Spain in 
1748, but marauding expeditions were again entered upon in 
1755. The Spanish ambassador at London, having obtained from 
the court of St. James an order commanding the English settlers 
to retire from the territory of Florida, the new governor, Don 
Alonzo Fernandez de Herreda, sent a company of dragoons to 
hasten the obedience of the English colonists. Upon a sum- 
mons the English agreed to retire, but they never did so, and 
the next year, 1763, the provinces of the Floridas were ceded to 
Great Britain in exchange for Havana and the western portion of 
Cuba, which had been captured from the Spanish. This treaty 
was concluded on the 3d of November, 1762, and ratified Feb- 
ruary loth, 1763. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE TOWN WHEN DELIVERED TO THE ENGLISH. FORT SAN JUAN DE 

PINOS. ST. AUGUSTINE AS DESCRIBED BY THE ENGLISH WRITERS 

1765 TO 1775. 

Before the cession of the province, the fort had been com- 
pleted, and presented, at the time it was delivered to the English, 
very much the same appearance as now. Many of the casemates 
had platforms about seven feet from the floor for sleeping apart- 
ments. The moat was about four feet deeper than at present, 
and the water battery was built in such a manner that the guns 
were mounted upon it instead of behind it, as at present. The 
high banks of sand on the north, west, and south sides of the fort 
have been placed there in recent times as a protection from the 
shot of modern guns, which would soon make a breach through 
almost any thickness of coquina wall. The fortress occupies 
about four acres of ground, and mounts one hundred guns, re- 
quiring a garrison of a thousand soldiers, though a much larger 
number have, on several occasions, been its garrison. Its site 
was well chosen for the protection of the town in the days when it 
was built, as its guns command the whole harbor and inlet from 
the sea, as also the whole peninsula to the south, upon which the 
town is built, the land approach from the north, and the marshes 
west of the town. Various dates have been assigned as the period 
at which the work on this fort was commenced, but of this date 
there is no record in this country, if there is in Spain. At the 

100 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. lOi 

time of Drake's attack, 1586, there was an octagonal fort on 
or about the site of the present structure, which was built of 
logs and earth. In 1638, or thereabouts, the Apalachians were 
set to work on the fortifications of the town, and, as Menendez 
had applied himself to strengthening the defenses of the town 
after the attack of De Gourges, 1567, it is probable that this fort 
had been commenced before the beginning of the seventeenth 
century. That the Spaniards had then begun to use coquina as a 
building stone is to be inferred from a statement of Romans, 
that, in his time, one of the old houses of the town bore the date 
1 57 1. The name of the wooden fort was San Juan de Pinos, and 
the present fort bore the name St. John for many years. It is 
supposed that the old wooden structure stood near the north-west 
bastion, which was probably called St. John, while the south-east 
was named for St. Peter, the south-west was called St. Augustine, 
and the north-east St. Paul. 

It is uncertain when the name St. Mark's was first applied to 
the castle, though probably during the English occupation, 1663- 
1684. The fort, doubtless, acquired the name from that applied 
to the present north river, which was called by the Spaniards St. 
Mark's River, at the mouth of which the fort is located. It is 
probably the oldest fortification now standing in the United 
States, and certainly the oldest which is yet in a good state of pre- 
servation. From the date at which the Apalachians began work, 
until the year in which the fortification was declared finished and 
the commemorative tablet erected, the period during which it was 
being built is one hundred and eighteen years. It has now been 
a century and a quarter since this magnificent old structure, rep- 
resenting the grandest military architecture of the middle ages, 
was completed, and two centuries and a half since its inception. 



102 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

What a strange and eventful history is connected with its stone 
walls, its deep ditch, its frowning battlements, its dismal dungeon, 
and damp casemates, in the midst of which, on the north side, is 
its chapel with raised altar, built into the masonry, and holy water 
niches in the walls of the casemates. 

Those who have read this history thus far will have noted the 
laying of its foundations by the hands of those zealous and 
bigoted Catholics who had exterminated a settlement of the sub- 
jects of a friendly nation, lest they should spread among the bar- 
barous Indians heretical doctrines ; the accretion of its rising 
walls under the hands of the unfortunate Indians, who had been 
loath to accept the Christian teachers and doctrine that had been 
forced upon them by these expungers of heresy, until, with the 
aid of convicts and king's workmen, the work was completed, to 
stand the defense of the Spanish possessions in Florida, the pro- 
tection of fugitive slaves, depredating Indians, Spanish pensioners 
and adventurers, and the prison of many wretched Indians and 
whites who had fallen under the displeasure of a Spanish auto- 
crat. For almost two hundred years the Spanish ensign had been 
•uninterruptedly displayed from the site of this fort, when, by the 
treaty of 1762, it was yielded to the British, and the cross of St. 
George displayed from its battlements. 

The year after his arrival in Florida, Governor Hereda sculp- 
tured, in alto-relievo, the Spanish coat of arms over the entrance 
of the fort. The tablet upon which the design is impressed is 
made of cement, and let into the walls of the fort. The inscrip- 
tion on the tablet beneath the coat of arms is as follows : 

'•REYNANDO EN ESPANA EL SEN^ DON FERNAN- 
DO SEXTO Y SIENDO GOVR Y CAP^^ DE ES^ C^ SA^ 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. IO3 

AUGN DE LA FLORIDA Y SUS PROV^ EL MARISCAL 
DE CAMPO DN ALONZO FERNDO HERADA ASI CON- 
CLUIO ESTE CASTILLO EL AN OD 1756 DRI^ENDO 
LAS OBRAS EL CAP. INGN^o DN PEDRO DE BROZAS 
Y GAR AY." 

Translation : 

''Don Ferdinand the VI, being King of Spain, and the Field 
Marshal Don Alonzo Fernando Hereda being Governor and Captain 
General of this place, St. Augustine of Florida, and its province, this 
Fort was finished in the year 1756. The ivorks were directed by the 
Captain Engineer, Don Pedro de Brazas Y Garay. " * 

An alto-relievo coat of arms, upon a cement tablet, was also 
placed upon the lunette, but vandal relic hunters have disfigured 
this tablet most aggravatingly. In the top of this tablet there 
is an oval-shaped hollow, which looks as if it might have been 
worn by the handle of a spear, or small staff of a standard. 
It is possible that the sentry has stood upon this wall, resting his 
lance on the top of this tablet for years, until this hollow has been 
worn ihree inches or more in depth, and so perfectly smooth as 
to have a polish over the surface of the depression. 

Every part of this old work should be protected and preserved 
by the United States, whose property it is. With proper care, 
and moderate repairs from time to time, this old structure will 
yet remain for ages a grand old relic of medieval architecture, 
and a monument of the first settlement of this country by our 



* For an excellent view of the tablet over the entrance to the fort, on 
which is sculptured the Spanish coat of arms and the above inscription, see 
Souvenir Album of Views in St. Aufiustine. 



104 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

European ancestors. The sum of thirty millions of dollars is said 
to have been expended by the Spaniards in the construction of 
this fortification ; a sum so vast that, when the amount was read to 
King Ferdinand VL, he is reported to have turned to his secretary, 
and exclaimed, ''What ! Is the fort built of solid dollars ? " 

"Of its legends connected with the dark chambers and prison 
vaults, the chains, the instruments of torture, the skeletons walled 
in, its closed and hidden recesses, of Coacouchee's escape, and 
many another tale, there is much to say; but it is better said 
within the grim walls, where the eye and the imagination can go 
together in weaving a web of mystery and awe over its sad associ- 
ations, to the music of the grating bolt, the echoing tread, and 
the clanking chain." * 

I have heard from native residents that tales of skeletons, etc. , 
were never heard until after the late war ; which assertion the 
above quotation from Fairbanks' History, published in 1858, will 
disprove, f 

The appearance and condition of the town at the time of the 
English possession has been described by several writers, whose 
quaintness of style adds to the inherent interest of the subject. 

The English surveyor-general, De Brahm, describes the place 
as follows : 

*' At the time the Spaniards left the town, all the gardens were 
well stocked with fruit trees, viz. : figs, guavas, plantain, pome- 
granates, lemons, limes, citrons, shadock, bergamot, China and 
Seville oranges, the latter full of fruit throughout the whole win- 
ter season. The town is three quarters of a mile in length, but 

* Fairbanks' History and Antiquities, p. 157, 

\ For several views of the old fort, see Souver]ir Album of Views in St. 
Augustine. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 105 

not a quarter wide ; had four churches ornamentally built with 
stone in the Spanish taste, of which one within and one without 
the town exist. One is pulled down ; that is the German church, 
but the steeple is preserved as an ornament to the town ; and the 
other, viz., the convent-church and convent in town, is taken in 
the body of the barracks. All the houses are built of masonry ; 
their entrances are shaded by piazzas, supported by Tuscan pil- 
lars or pilasters against the south sun. The houses have to the 
east windows projecting sixteen or eighteen inches into the street, 
very wide and proportionally high. On the west side, their win- 
dows are commonly very small, and no opening of any kind on 
the north, on which side they have double walls six or eight feet 
asunder, forming a kind of gallery which answers for cellars and 
pantries. Before most of the entrances were arbors of vines, pro- 
ducing plenty and very good grapes. No house has any chimney 
or fireplace ; the Spaniards made use of stone urns, filled them 
with coals left in their kitchens in the afternoon, and set them at 
sunset in their bedrooms to defend themselves against those win- 
ter seasons which required such care. The governor's residence 
has on both sides piazzas, viz., a double one on the south, and a 
single one to the north ; also a Belvidere and a grand portico 
decorated with Doric pillars and entablatures. On the north end 
of the town is a casemated fort, with four bastions, a ravelin, 
counterscarp, and a glacis built with quarried shell-stones, and 
constructed according to the rudiments of Marechal de Vauban. 
This fort commands the road of the bay, the town, its environs, 
and both Tolomato Stream and Matanzas Creek. The soil in 
the gardens and environs of the town is chiefly sandy and marshy. 
The Spaniards seem to have had a notion of manuring their land 
with shells one foot deep;" 



IC6 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, 

In 1770, according to De Brahm, the inhabitants of St. Augus- 
tine and vicinity numbered 288 householders exclusive of wo- 
men and children, of whom 3 1 were storekeepers and traders ; 
3 haberdashers, 15 innkeepers, 45 artificers and mechanics, no 
planters, 4 hunters, 6 cow-keepers, 1 1 overseers, 1 2 draftsmen in 
the employ of the government, besides mathematicians ; 58 had 
left the province, and 28 had died, of whom 4 were killed acting 
as constables, and two hanged for piracy.* 

Another account says that at the time of the evacuation by the 
Spaniards, the town contained a garrison of 2,500 men, and a 
population of 3,200, who were of all colors, whites, negroes, 
mulattoes, Indians, etc. This estimate probably included the 
surrounding country as well as the town, as Romans a few years 
later made the number residing within the city much smaller. 
He says : "The town has, by all writers, till Dr. Stork's time, been 
said to lay at the foot of a hill ; so far from the truth is this, that 
it is almost surrounded by water, and the remains of the line 
drawn from the harbor to St. Sebastian Creek, a fourth of a mile 
north of the fort, in which line stands a fortified gate called the 
Barrier Gate, i.s the only rising ground near it ; this line had a 
ditch, and its fortification was pretty regular ; about a mile and 
a half beyond this are the remains of another fortified line, which 
had a kind of look-out or advanced guard of stoccadoes at its 
western extremity on St. Sebastian Creek, and Fort Mossa at its 
eastern end ; besides these the town has been fortified with a 



* History of the Three Provinces, by Wm. Gerard de Brahm, His Majesty's 
Survr. Gen. for the Southern District of North America, from 1751 to 1771. 
A manuscript work purchased in London, in 1848, for Harvard College 
library, for ;^I2 los. The portion relating to Florida comprises 173 pages 
with 14 maps. 



HISTORY OF ST, AUGUSTINE. 



107 



slight but regular line of circumvallation and a ditch. The town 
is half a mile in length, and its southern line had two bastions of 
stone, one of which (if not both) are broken down, and the ma- 
terials used for the building of the foundation of the barracks ; 
the ditch and parapet are planted with a species of agave, which 
by its points is well fitted to keep out cattle.* Dr. Stork has 
raised this into a fortification against the savages, and magnified 
it into a chevaux de frize. The town is very ill built, the 
streets being all, except one, crooked and narrow. The date on 
one of the houses I remember to be 1571 ; these are of stone, 
mostly flat-roofed, heavy, and look badly. Till the arrival of 
the English, neither glass windows nor chimneys were known 
here, the lower windows had all a projecting frame of wooden 
rails before them. The governor's house is a heavy, unsightly 
pile, but well contrived for the climate ; at its north-west side 
it has a kind of tower ; this serves for a look-out. There were 
three suburbs in the time of the Spaniards, but all destroyed 
before my acquaintance with the place, except the church of the 
Indian town to the north, now converted into an hospital. Dr. 
Stork says the steeple of this church is of good workmanship, 
though built by the Indians, neither of which assertions is true. 
The steeple of the German chapel to the west of the town likewise 
remains.f 

"The parish church in the town is a wretched building, and 
now almost a heap of ruins ; the parade before the governor's 



* Spanish bayonet (Yucca Gloriosa). It bears a pyramid of white flowers, 
and, as also the prickly pear, by its appearance suggests the rural scenery of 
the tropics. 

f I have been unable to find any record of the time or manner in which 
any German colony settled in St. Augustine. 



I08 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

house is nearly in the middle of the town, and has a very fine 
effect ; there are two rows of orange trees planted by order of 
Governor Grant, which make a fine walk on each side of it ; the 
sandy streets are hardened by lime and oyster shells. Dr. Stork 
says there were nine hundred houses at the time of the Spanish 
evacuation, and 3,200 inhabitants. In my time there were not 
three hundred houses, and at most a thousand inhabitants ; these, 
a few excepted, I found to be a kind of outcast and scum of the 
earth ; to keep them such their ill form of government does not a 
little contribute. A letter dated May 27th, 1774, says this town 
is now truly become a heap of ruins — a fit receptacle for the 
wretches of inhabitants." * 

This sweeping condemnation of the whole population of the 
town would seem to be exceedingly unjust and unbecoming a 
historian. 

Major Ogilvie of the British army received the town from the 
Spaniards, and immediately entered upon an administration of 
the affairs of the province which was most unreasonable and im- 
politic. "Major Ogilvie, in taking possession of the eastern 
province, by his impolitic behavior caused all the Spaniards to 
remove to Havana, which was a deadly wound to the province, 
never to be cured again." 

So oppressive was the course of this commander, that it was 
said that not more than five of the Spanish inhabitants consented 
to remain in the province, and only by the efforts of the officer in 
command were the Spaniards prevented from destroying every 
house and building in the town. The governor did destroy his 
garden, which had been stocked with rare ornamental plants, 
trees, and flowers. 

* Romans's History of Florida, New York, 1775. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



109 



By the articles of peace the King of Great Britain guaranteed 
"the liberty of the Catholic religion/' but the prejudices of the 
Spaniards were deeply rooted, and the transfer of the territory was 
distasteful beyond measure. Governor James Grant was sent out 
from England to take charge of the province, and immediately, 
upon relieving Major Ogilvie, issued a proclamation dated Octo- 
ber 7th, 1763, intended to conciliate and retain those Spaniards 
who had not withdrawn, and recall those who had, as well as to 
encourage persons in England to remove to Florida. 

Governor Grant had been high in command at the capture of 
Havana. His administration of a country hitherto the seat of 
war between the aborigines, the original settlers, and their British 
neighbors, was not without many difficulties ; but his management 
of affairs was generally very satisfactory, and showed much policy 
and executive ability. It was said of him that, hearing of any 
coolness between those about him, they were brought together at 
his table (always well provided) and reconciled before they were 
allowed to leave it. His conduct was not exempt from un- 
friendly criticism, however, and it was charged that he would not 
allow the transfer of Spanish landed interest to be good, although 
mentioned in the treaty ; "that he reigned supreme without con- 
trol, even in peace, notwithstanding the frequent murmurs of the 
people and the presentments of the grand juries, occasioned by 
his not calling an assembly, which they thought was a duty in- 
cumbent upon him. There was also a complaint of the contin- 
gent money, of five thousand pounds per annum for seven years, 
not being so very visibly expended on highways, bridges, fer- 
ries, and such other necessary things as the people would have 
wished. " * 

* Romans's History of Florida. 



no HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

The Spaniards attempted to illegally transfer, and, in fact, did 
sell the whole of their property in St. Augustine to a few British 
subjects for a nominal sum. It was probably this class of con- 
veyances that Governor Grant refused to recognize. The com- 
plaint as to the building of roads, etc., must have been without 
foundation, as under Governor Grant were constructed all those 
public roads, since known as the King's Roads, running from 
New Smyrna to St. Augustine, and thence to Jacksonville and 
the St. Mary's River. These roads were all turnpiked upon the 
line of surveyed routes, and are to-day the best roads in the 
State. 

Under Governor Grant the British built at St. Augustine very 
extensive barracks, which were soon afterward burned. Romans 
thus criticises the policy of the governor in expending so large 
sums on military works : ' ' The bar of this harbor is a perpetual 
obstruction to St. Augustine becoming a place of any great trade, 
and alone is security enough against enemies : so that I see but 
little occasion for so much fortification as the Spaniards had here, 
especially as a little look-out called Mossa, at a small distance 
north of the town, proved sufficient to repel General Oglethorpe 
with the most formidable armament ever intended against St. Au- 
gustine. However, there was much more propriety in the Span- 
iards having a fort in the modern taste of military architecture — of 
a regular quadrilateral form, with four bastions, a wide ditch, a 
covered way, a glacis, a ravelin to defend the gate, places of arms 
and bomb-proofs, with a casemating all round, etc., etc., for a 
defense against savages — than there was in raising such a stupen- 
dous pile of buildings as the new barracks by the English, which 
are large enough to contain five regiments, when it is a matter of 
grave doubt whether it will ever be a necessity to keep one whole 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. HI 

regiment here. To mend this matter, the great barrack was built 
with materials brought to St. Augustine from New York, far infe- 
rior in value to those found on the spot, yet the freight alone 
amounted to more than their value when landed, so that people 
can hardly help thinking that the contrivers of all this, having a 
sum of money to throw away, found it necessary to fill some para- 
site's pockets. This fort and barrack, however, add not a little to 
the beauty of the prospect," as one approaches the town from the 
water. 

When the old light-house was built I have been unable to dis- 
cover. Under Governor Grant it was raised by a timber con- 
struction, and had a cannon planted on it, which was fired as 
soon as the fliag was hoisted to notify the inhabitants and pilots 
that a vessel was approaching. It had two flagstaffs, one to the 
north and one to the south, on either of which the flag was 
hoisted as the vessel was approaching from the north or south. 

It is possible that the old light-house was constructed in 1693, 
with the proceeds of the six thousand dollars appropriated by the 
Council of the Indies, for "building a tower as a look-out." The 
Spaniards kept a detachment of troops stationed there, and the 
tower and adjoining chapel were inclosed with a high and thick 
stone wall, pierced with loop-holes, and having a salient angle to 
protect the gate. Romans describes it, in his time, as follows : 
''About half a mile from the north end of the island [Anasta- 
tia] is a heavy stone building serving for a look-out. A small 
detachment of troops is kept here, and by signals from hence the 
inhabitants are given to understand what kind of, and how many 
vessels are approaching the harbor, either from the north or from 
the south. In the year 1770, fifty feet of timber framework were 
added to its former height, as was likewise a mast or flagstaff 



112 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

forty-seven feet long ; but this last, proving too weighty, endan 
gered the building, and was soon taken down."* This old 
structure was repaired and a house for the light-keeper built in 
1823, by Elias Wallen, a contractor, who was also employed upon 
the repairs made to the old ''Governor's House." 

The coquina ledge upon which it was built has of late years 
been rapidly washing away by the action of the tides, and dash- 
ing of the waves, which during the annual north-east storms are 
sometimes of considerable force. A storm washed away the 
foundations of the tower, and it fell with a crash on Sunday, the 
20th of June, 1880. Thus has gone forever one of St. Augustine's 
most interesting old landmarks, f 

The English built a bridge across the St. Sebastian River 
upon the old road leading over the marshes, which approached the 
town near the saw-mills. From some defect in construction, 
this bridge did not remain long. They then established a ferry, 
and appointed a ferry-keeper with a salary of fifty pounds sterling 
per annum. The inhabitants paid nothing for crossing except 
after dark. 

* Romans's History of Florida. 

f A very good view of this old structure is published in the Souvenir 
Album of Views in St. Augustine. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW SMYRNA BY THE ANCESTORS OF A MAJOR- 
ITY OF THE PRESENT POPULATION OF ST. AUGUSTINE. THE 

HARDSHIPS ENDURED BY THESE MINORCAN AND GREEK COLO- 
NISTS. THEIR REMOVAL TO ST. AUGUSTINE UNDER THE PRO- 
TECTION OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNOR. 

The proclamation of Governor Grant, and the accounts which 
had gone abroad of the advantages of the province, and the Hb- 
eral poHcy adopted by the British in the treatment of colonists, 
induced some wealthy planters from the Carolinas to remove to 
Florida, and several noblemen of England also solicited grants of 
land in the province. Among the noblemen who secured grants 
of land in Florida were Lords Hawke, Egmont, Grenville, and 
Hillsborough, Sir William Duncan, and Dennys Rolle, the father 
of Lord Rolle. Sir William Duncan was a partner with Dr. 
Turnbull in importing a large number of Europeans for the 
cultivation of their lands south of St. Augustine, on the Halifax 
River. The persons whom these two gentlemen then induced to 
come to Florida are the ancestors of a large majority of the resi- 
dent population of St. Augustine at the present day. In the 
early accounts of the place I am satisfied that gross injustice was 
done to these people in a reckless condemnation of the whole 
community. I have myself heard their descendants unreasonably 
censured, and their characters severely criticised. These unfavor- 

II.3 



J 14 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

able opinions were doubtless generated by the unfortunate posi- 
tion in which these immigrants found themselves. Friendless in 
a strange land, speaking a different language from the remainder 
of the inhabitants, and of a different religious belief, it was but 
natural that they should mingle but little with the English resi- 
dents, especially after they had experienced such unjust treat- 
ment at the hands of one of the most influential of the principal 
men of the colony. The reader will understand the position of 
these Minorcans and Greeks, and the feelings they must have 
entertained toward the great men of the colony, after reading 
Romans's account of the hardships they were forced to undergo, 
and the difficulty they had in breaking their onerous contract. 
Romans says : ''The situation of the town, or settlement, made 
by Dr. TurnbuU is called New Smyrna from the place of the 
doctor's lady's nativity. About fifteen hundred people, men, w^o- 
men, and children, were deluded away from their native country, 
where they lived at home in the plentiful corn-fields and vine- 
yards of Greece and Italy, to this place, where, instead of plenty, 
they found want in the last degree ; instead of promised fields, a 
dreary wilderness ; instead of a grateful, fertile soil, a barren, arid 
sand, and in addition to their misery were obliged to indent 
themselves, their wives and children for many years to a man who 
had the most sanguine expectations of transplanting bashawship 
from the Levant. The better to effect his purpose, he granted 
them a pitiful portion of land for ten years upon the plan of the 
feudal system. This being improved, and just rendered fit for 
cultivation, at the end of that term it again reverts to the original 
grantor, and the grantee may, if he chooses, begin a new state 
of vassalage for ten years more. Many were denied even such 
grants as these, and were obliged to work at tasks in the field. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. II5 

Their provisions were, at the best of times, only a quart of maize 
per day, and two ounces of pork per week. This might have 
sufficed with the help of fish, which abounded in this lagoon ; 
but they were denied the liberty of fishing, and, lest they should 
not labor enough, inhuman taskmasters were set over them, and 
instead of allowing each family to do with their homely fare as 
they pleased, they were forced to join altogether in one mess, and 
at the beat of a vile drum to come to one common copper, from 
whence their hominy was ladled out to them ; even this coarse 
and scanty meal was, through careless management, rendered still 
more coarse, and, through the knavery of a providetor and the 
pilfering of a hungry cook, still more scanty. Masters of vessels 
were forewarned from giving any of them a piece of bread or 
meat. Imagine to yourself an African — one of a class of men 
whose hearts are generally callous against the softer feelings — 
melted with the wants of these wretches, giving them a piece of 
ven'son, of which he caught what he pleased, and for this chari- 
table act disgraced, and, in course of time, used so severely that 
the unusual servitude soon released him to a happier state. 
Again, behold a man obliged to whip his own wife for pilfering 
bread to relieve his helpless family ; then think of a time when 
the small allowance was reduced to half, and see some brave, 
generous seamen charitably sharing their own allowance with 
some of these wretches, the merciful tars suffering abuse for 
their generosity, and the miserable objects of their ill-timed pity 
undergoing bodily punishment for satisfying the cravings of a 
long-disappointed appetite, and you may form some judgment of 
the manner in which New Smyrna was settled. Before I leave 
this subject I will relate the insurrection to which those unhappy 
people at New Smyrna were obliged to have recourse, and which 



Il6 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

the great ones styled rebellion. In the year 1769, at a time when 
the unparalleled severities of their taskmasters, particularly one 
Cutter (who had been made a justice of the peace, with no other 
view than to enable him to execute his barbarities on a larger 
extent and with greater appearance of authority) had drove these 
wretches to despair, they resolved to escape to the Havannah. 
To execute this they broke into the provision stores and seized 
on some craft lying in the harbor, but were prevented from taking 
others by the care of the masters. Destitute of any man fit for 
the important post of leader, their proceedings were all confused, 
and an Italian of very bad principles, but of so much note that 
he had formerly been admitted to the overseer's table, assumed a 
kind of command ; they thought themselves secure where they 
were, and this occasioned a delay till a detachment of the Ninth 
Regiment had time to arrive, to whom they submitted, except one 
boatful, which escaped to the Florida Keys and were taken up by 
a Providence man. Many were the victims destined to punish- 
ment ; as I was one of the grand jury which sat fifteen days on 
this business, I had an opportunity of canvassing it well ; but the 
accusations were of so small account that we found only five 
bills : one of these was against a man for maiming the above said 
Cutter, whom it seems they had pitched upon as the principal 
object of their resentment, and curtailed his ear and two of his fin- 
gers ; another for shooting a cow, which, being a capital crime in 
England, the law making it such was here extended to this prov- 
ince ; the others were against the leader and two more for the 
burglary committed on the provision store. The distress of the 
sufferers touched us so that we almost unanimously wished for 
some happy circumstances that might justify our rejecting all the 
bills, except that against the chief who was a villain. One man 



1776] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. ny 

was brought before us three or four times, and, at last, was joined 
in one accusation with the person who maimed Cutter ; yet, no 
evidence of weight appearing against him, I had an opportunity 
to remark, by the appearance of some faces in court, that he had 
been marked, and that the grand jury disappointed the expecta- 
tions of more than one great man. Governor Grant pardoned 
J two, and a third was obHged to be the executioner of the remain- 
ing two. On this occasion I saw one of the most moving scenes 
I ever experienced ; long and obstinate was the struggle of this 
man's mind, who repeatedly called out that he chose to die 
rather than be the executioner of his friends in distress ; this not 
a little perplexed Mr. Woolridge, the sheriff, till at length the en- 
treaties of the victims themselves put an end to the conflict in 
his breast, by encouraging him to act. Now we beheld a man 
thus compelled to mount the ladder, take leave of his friends in 
the most moving manner, kissing them the moment before he 
committed them to an ignominious death. Cutter some time 
after died a lingering death, having experienced besides his 
wounds the terrors of a coward in power overtaken by ven- 
geance." * 

The original agreement made with the immigrants before leav- 
ing the Mediterranean was much more favorable to them than 
Romans describes it. At the end of three years each head of a 
family was to have fifty acres of land and twenty-five for each 
child of his family. This contract was not adhered to on the 
part of the proprietors, and it was not until, by the authority of 
the courts, they had secured their freedom from the exactions im- 
posed upon them that any disposition was shown to deed them 
lands in severalty. After the suppression of this attempt to es- 

*Romans's History of Florida, N. Y., 1775. 



Il8 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

cape, these people continued to cultivate the lands as before, and 
large crops of indigo were produced by their labor. Meantime 
the hardships and injustice practiced against them continued, 
until, in 1776, nine years from their landing in Florida, their 
number had been reduced by sickness, exposure, and cruel treat- 
ment from fourteen hundred to six hundred. 

At that time it happened that some gentlemen visiting New 
Smyrna from St. Augustine were heard to remark that if these 
people knew their rights they never would submit to such treat- 
ment, and that the governor ought to protect them. This re- 
mark was noted by an intelligent boy who told it to his mother, 
upon whom it made such an impression that she could not 
cease to think and plan how, in some way, their condition might 
be represented to the governor. Finally, she decided to call a 
council of the leading men among her people. They assembled 
soon after in the night, and devised a plan of reaching the gov- 
ernor. Three of the most resolute and competent of their num- 
ber were selected to make the attempt to reach St. Augustine and 
lay before the governor a report of their condition. In order to 
account for their absence they asked to be given a long task, or 
an extra amount of work to be done in a specified time, and if 
they should complete the work in advance, the intervening time 
should be their own to go down the coast and catch turtle. This 
was granted them as a special favor. Having finished their task by 
the assistance of their friends so as to have several days at their dis- 
posal, the three brave men set out along the beach for St. Augus- 
tine. The names of these men, most worthy of remembrance, 
were Pellicier, Llambias, and Genopley. Starting at night they 
reached and swam Matanzas Inlet the next morning, and arrived 
at St. Augustine by sundown of the same day. After inquiry they 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTIIVE, I ig 

decided to make a statement of their case to Mr. Young, the 
attorney-general of the province. No better man could have been 
selected to represent the cause of the oppressed. They made 
known to him their condition, the terms of their original con- 
tract, and the manner in which they had been treated. Mr. 
Young promised to present their case to the governor, and as- 
sured them if their statements could be proved, the governor 
would at once release them from the indentures by which Turn- 
bull claimed to control them. He advised them to return to 
Smyrna and bring to St. Augustine all who wished to leave New 
Smyrna, and the service of Turnbull. " Tiie envoys returned with 
the glad tidings that their chains were broken and that protection 
awaited them. Turnbull was absent, but they feared the over- 
seers, whose cruelty they dreaded. They met in secret and chose 
for their leader Mr. Pellicier, who was head carpenter. The 
women and children with the old men were placed in the center, 
and the stoutest men armed with wooden spears were placed in 
front and rear. In this order they set off, like the children of 
Israel, from a place that had proved an Egypt to them. So se- 
cretly had they conducted the transaction, that they proceeded 
some miles before the overseer discovered that the place was de- 
serted. He rode after the fugitives and overtook them before 
they reached St. Augustine, and used every exertion to persuade 
them to return, but in vain. On the third day they reached St. 
Augustine, where provisions were served out to them by order 
of the governor. Their case was tried before the judges, where 
they were honestly defended by their friend the attorney-general. 
Turnbull could show no cause for detaining them, and their 
freedom was fully established. Lands were offered them at New 
Smyrna, but they suspected some trick was on foot to get them 



I20 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

into Turnbull's hands, and besides they detested the place where 
they had suffered so much. Lands were therefore assigned them 
in the north part of the city, where they have built houses and 
cultivated their gardens to this day. Some by industry have ac- 
quired large estates : they at this time form a respectable part of 
the population of the city." * 

It will be seen by the date of their removal to St. Augustine 
that the unfavorable comments of Romans and the Englishman 
whose letter he quotes upon the population of the town at the 
cession to Great Britain, could not have referred to the immi- 
grants who came over under contract with Turnbull. It will also 
be seen that Williams speaks in very complimentary terms of 
these people and their descendants. I am pleased to quote from 
an earlier account a very favorable, and, as I believe, a very just 
tribute to the worth of these Minorcan and Greek settlers and 
their children. Forbes, in his sketches, says : ' ' They settled in 
St. Augustine, where their descendants form a numerous, indus- 
trious, and virtuous body of people, distinct alike from the indo- 
lent character of the Spaniards and the rapacious habits of some 
of the strangers who have visited the city since the exchange of 
flags. In their duties as small farmers, hunters, fishermen, and 
other laborious but useful occupations, they contribute more to 
the real stability of society than any other class of people : gen- 
erally temperate in their mod3 of life and strict in their moral 
integrity, they do not yield the palm to the denizens of the land 
of steady habits. Crime is almost unknown among them ; speak- 
ing their native tongue, they move about distinguished by a 
primitive simplicity and purity as remarkable as their speech." f 

* Williams' Florida, page 190, a.d. 1837. 
f Forbes' Sketches, etc., N. Y., 1821. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 12 1 

Many of the older citizens now living remember the palmetto 
houses which used to stand in the northern part of the town, 
built by the people who came up from Smyrna. By their fru- 
gality and industry the descendants of those who settled at Smyrna 
have replaced these palmetto huts with comfortable cottages, and 
many among them have acquired considerable wealth, and taken 
rank among the most respected and successful citizens of the 
town. 



[I77I.] 
CHAPTER XV. 

ADMINISTRATION OF LIEUT. -GOVERNOR MOULTRIE. DEMAND OF THE 

PEOPLE FOR THE RIGHTS OF ENGLISHMEN. GOVERNOR TONYN 

BURNING THE EFFIGIES OF ADAMS AND HANCOCK. COLONIAL 

INSURGENTS CONFINED IN THE FORT. ASSEMBLING OF THE FIRST 

LEGISLATURE. COMMERCE OF ST. AUGUSTINE UNDER THE ENG- 
LISH. RECESSION OF THE PROVINCE TO SPAIN. 

Governor Grant's administration lasted until 1771, when he 
returned to England suffering in health. Upon his departure the 
province was under the authority of Hon. John Moultrie, the 
lieut. -governor, for a period of three years. The spirit of liberty, 
which was making itself felt throughout the British provinces at 
the North at this time, was here in Florida exciting in the breasts 
of those born under the British flag a determination to demand 
the rights granted by the Magna Charta. Urged by leading men 
in the council, the grand jury made presentments setting forth 
the rights of the inhabitants of the province to a representative 
government. These presentments the lieut. -governor disregarded, 
but finally yielded so far as to consent to the formation of a legis- 
lature which should be elected and meet every three years. The 
freeholders were inflexible in their determination to have annual 
sessions of their representatives, and continued without represen- 
tation rather than to yield. The chief justice, William Drayton, 

122 



1 7 74-1 7 76] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1 23 

a gentleman of talents and great professional knowledge, being 
unwilling to yield to the pretensions of the lieut -governor, was 
suspended from his office, and the Rev. John Forbes, an assistant 
judge, was appointed to the vacancy by Lieut.-Governor Moultrie. 
It was charged against Mr. Forbes that his sympathies were with 
the Americans of the northern colonies. The confirmation of his 
appointment was therefore rejected and a chief justice sent from 
England. 

In March, 1774, a new governor arrived from England. This 
gentleman was Colonel Patrick Tonyn, a protege of Lord March- 
mont, and very zealous for the royal cause. He at once issued a 
proclamation inviting the inhabitants of the provinces to the 
North, w'ho were attached to the crown, to remove with their 
property to Florida. This invitation was accepted by a consider- 
able number of royalists. In 1776 Governor Tonyn issued an- 
other proclamation inviting the inhabitants of the towns on the 
St. Johns, and of the Musquitoes, to assemble and co-operate 
with the king's troops in resisting the "perfidious insinuations" 
of the neighboring colonists, and to prevent any more men from 
joining their "traitorous neighbors." This was met by a coun- 
ter proclamation by President Batton Gwinnet, of Georgia, who 
encouraged the belief that the God of " armies had appeared so 
remarkably in favor of liberty, that the period could not be far 
distant when the enemies of America would be clothed with ever- 
lasting shame and dishonor." Governor Tonyn issued commis- 
sions to privateers, and held a council of the Indians to secure 
their alliance agains: the patriots of the neighboring colonies. 

Upon the receipt of news of the Declaration of Independence 
of the American colonies, the royalists showed their zeal for the 
king by burning the effigies of John Hancock and Samuel Adams 



124 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



on the plaza, near where the constitutional monument now 
stands. In 1775 some privateers from Carolina captured the brig 
Betsy off the bar, and unloaded her in sight of the garrison, 
giving to the captain a bill signed ''Clement Lampriere," and 
drawn on Miles Brewton, at Charleston, for one thousand pounds 
sterling. The cargo consisted of one hundred and eleven barrels 
of powder sent from London, and the capture was a great morti- 
fication to the new governor. 

During the early years of the struggle between the American 
colonies and the mother country, St. Augustine was the British 
point of rendezvous and an asylum for the royalists. From 
Georgia and Carolina there were said to have been seven thou- 
sand royalists and slaves who moved to Florida during these 
years. So hazardous to the colonial interests had the British 
possession of St. Augustine become, that Governor Houston, of 
Georgia, urged upon General Howe to attack the place in the 
spring of 1778. This expedition was never undertaken, though 
Colonel Fuser, of the Sixtieth Regiment, issued a proclamation 
on June 27th, 1778, commanding all those who had not en- 
tered the militia to join him, as "the rebels might be expected 
every instant." 

The inhabitants of the province, while willing to fight for the 
king, still demanded the establishment of a representative gov- 
ernment. Governor Tonyn, in a letter to Lord George St. Ger- 
man, Secretary of State, says : "I perceive the cry for a provin- 
cial legislature to remedy local inconveniences is as loud as ever, 
and suggestions are thrown out that, without it, people's property 
is not secure, and that they must live in a country where they can 
enjoy to their utmost extent the advantages of the British Con- 
stitution and laws formed with their consent. But mention the 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



25 



expediency, propriety, reasonableness, justice, and gratitude of 
imposing taxes for the expenses of the government, they are all 
silent, or so exceedingly poor as not to be able to pay the least 
farthing." 

In 1780 Governor Tonyn repaired both lines of defense about 
the town, strengthened the fortifications, and added several new 
works. The inhabitants complained bitterly that the burdens 
of the public defense fell upon them, as their negroes were kept 
for several months employed upon the king's works. The gov- 
ernor seems to have considered that loyalty to the king v;as not to 
be expected from his new subjects in Florida, or at least was to 
be found only among Protestants. Writing of the militia, he 
says: "There are several Minorcans, and I have my doubts as 
to their loyalty, being of Spanish and French extraction, and 
of the Roman Catholic religion." 

About this time the British, having captured . Charleston, 
seized a number of the most influential men of South Carolina, 
in violation of their parole, and sent them to St. Augustine, where 
they remained until exchanged in 1781. All of the number, ex- 
cept General Gadsden, accepted a second parole, after arriving at 
St. Augustine. Gadsden, refusing to receive pledges at the hands 
of those who had already broken them, was confined for nearly a 
year in the fort. These prisoners were often threatened with the 
fate due to defeated rebels, and perhaps were taken to view the 
gallows at the north-east corner of the court-yard in the fort, said 
to have been erected by the British.* 

The pressure upon the governor, urging him to permit the 
enjoyment of the rights of representation granted by the king's 

* See Souvenir Album of Views in St. Augustine. 



126 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. [1783 

charter, had now become so forcible that, in 1781, a General 
Assembly was called, consisting of an Upper and a Lower House. 
The former was probably composed of the crown officers, and the 
latter of those elected by the freeholders. 

March 17th, 1781, the first Assembly met. Though Florida 
had been settled more than two hundred years, never before had 
the citizens been allowed to assemble and enact a law. The 
governor, in his address upon the assembling of the two Houses, 
was inclined to be sarcastic. He announced that the ''king and 
Parliament," with astonishing *' and unprecedented condescen- 
sion," relinquished their right of taxation, provided the Legisla- 
ture made due provision for defraying the expenses of the gov- 
ernment, and this when the whole sum raised by taxation did 
not amount to the salary of the king's treasurer. The principal 
source of revenue was said to be from licenses to sell liquors. 

In 1781 an event occurred most damaging to the material 
advancement of the province. This was an order from Sir Guy 
Carleton, H. B. M., Commander-in-chief in America, to General 
Leslie, in Carolina, to evacuate the province of East Florida with 
all his troops and such loyalists as wished. The inhabitants at 
once sent the most urgent protests against this harsh and unrea- 
sonable order, appealing to the governor and the king, by whom 
it was soon after revoked. 

It was at the hands of an expedition fitted out at St. Augus- 
tine that Great Britain obtained possession of the Bahama Isl- 
ands, which she still holds. In 1783, Colonel Devereux, with 
two twelve-gun vessels, and a small force of men, made a sudden 
attack and captured the town of Nassau, with the Spanish garri- 
son and governor. 

During the latter part of the British possession the exports 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



127 



of rurrij sugar, molasses, indigo, and lumber had become con- 
siderable. As early as 1770 the records of the Custom-House 
showed the entry of fifty schooners and sloops from the northern 
provinces and the West Indies, beside several square-rigged ves- 
sels from London and Liverpool. In 1771 the imports were : 54 
pipes of Madeira wine, 170 puncheons of rum, 1,660 barrels of 
flour, 1,000 barrels of beef and pork, 339 firkins of butter, and 
11,000 pounds of loaf sugar. These cargoes were brought in 
twenty-nine vessels, of which five were from London. There 
were also imported about 1,000 negroes, of whom 119 were from 
Africa. 

The average annual expenses of East Florida, while under the 
British flag, were /i 22, 660 sterling, without including the pay 
of the army or navy. In 1778, a period of the greatest prosperity 
reached under the British flag, the whole value of the exports 
was only ^^48,000 sterling, or a little more than one-third of the 
expenses of the province. 

Through the exertions of the Anglo-Saxon settlers, who had 
brought to the province their advanced ideas of government, agri- 
culture, and commerce, Florida was just entering upon a career 
of prosperity, when it was again ceded to Spain. These constant 
changes, necessitating the transfer of property to the subjects of 
the ruling sovereign, would, of themselves, have prevented any 
considerable improvement in the material wealth of the province ; 
but the treaty between Great Britain and Spain so far neglected to 
provide for the interests of the British subjects who had settled in 
Florida, that the only stipulation relating to them was one allow- 
ing them the privilege of removing within eighteen months from 
the time of the ratification. Whatever real property was not sold 
to Spanish subjects, at the end of this period, was to become the 



128 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

property of the Spanish Crown. Under the British there had 
settled in the town of St. Augustine a large number of half-pa}^ 
officers of the British Government, who, with others possessing 
certain incomes, had greatly improved the place. It is said that 
those conversant with the place in 1784, spoke highly of the 
beauty of the gardens, the neatness of the houses, and the air 
of cheerfulness and comfort that seemed during the preceding 
period to have been thrown over the town. Florida was literally 
deserted by its British subjects upon the change of flags. Vig- 
noles says : "Perhaps no such other general emigration of the 
inhabitants of a country, amicably transferred to another gov- 
ernment, ever occurred." Among the British subjects, who re- 
mained and transferred their allegiance to Spain, were several 
families whose descendants are still living in Florida. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

RETURN OF THE SPANIARDS. COMPLETION OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

THE OLDEST CHURCH BELL IN AMERICA. THE GOVERNOR'S 

DESIRE TO PEOPLE THE PROVINCE WITH IRISH CATHOLICS. 

SOME OFFICIAL ORDERS EXHIBITING THE CUSTOMS OF THE 

SPANIARDS. UNJUSTIFIABLE INTERFERENCE OF THE UNITED 

STATES, DURING THE "PATRIOT WAR." — FLORIDA AN UNPROF- 
ITABLE POSSESSION. ERECTION OF THE MONUMENT TO THE 

SPANISH CONSTITUTION. 

In June, 1784, Governor Zespedes took possession of St. 
Augustine, in the name of " his most Catholic Majesty." The 
British Government had provided a fleet of transports to convey 
its subjects, and from the St. Johns River and the St. Mary's 
they sailed for the American colonies and the British dominions. 

With the Spanish flag returned to St. Augustine the numerous 
company of salaried oflicials and crown-pensioners holding sine- 
cure oflices, and contributing nothing to the improvement of 
the place, and nothing to its existence but their presence. This 
large portion of the inhabitants, dependent upon the crown, did 
not always receive punctual payment of their salaries ; but, with 
their daily allowance of rations in kind, they were enabled to 
exist. They generally occupied the houses belonging to the 
crown, which were numerous, and the rent required was but 
6* 129 



j^O HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. [1790 

nominal. In 1764, a large number of lots in the town had been 
sold in confidence to Jesse Fish, a British subject, to prevent their 
being forfeited to the crown at the expiration of the period allowed 
by the treaty between Great Britain and Spain for the disposal of 
private property. This sale was not recognized as valid by the 
Spanish authorities upon their return, and one hundred and 
eighty-five lots were thus forfeited to the King of Spain. These 
lots were soon after sold at auction, on terms very favorable to 
the purchasers. 

Upon the return of the Spaniards they at once devoted their 
energies to completing their house of worship. At the change 
of flags (1763) the walls of the present cathedral had been 
erected, and, to prevent the property from becoming forfeited to 
the British Government, the lot and unfinished structure were 
deeded to Jesse Fish for one hundred dollars. The deed was a 
trust deed, and, upon the return of the Spaniards, the property 
was reconveyed by Mr. Fish to the Rev. Thomas Hassett, Vicar- 
General of Florida. The old parish church, which stood on the lot 
now belonging to the Episcopal parish, and west of their church 
edifice, had during the English possession been used as a court- 
house. This old church was called ''Our Lady of the Angels," 
and was built of stone, being probably the second church erected 
in the town by the Spaniards. The Spanish governor, immedi- 
ately on taking possession, had fitted up this old church for 
worship, for which the second story was assigned, while on the 
first floor were rooms used for a guard, a temporary jail, and for 
storing provisions, all of which uses would seem more appropri- 
ate to the castle. Where the first wooden church stood I have 
been unable to learn, though there is some rather obscure evi- 
dence that it was near the present residence of Mr. Howard, on 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



13 



St. George Street. How long the walls of the cathedral had been 
standing, before the change of flags, is unknown. In 1 703 the 
king decreed an appropriation of $20,000 for the repair of the 
churches of St. Augustine injured by Colonel Daniel In 1720 
the crown sent $20,000 more, and in 1723 issued a decree to 
procure at once workmen and repair the convent, the church, 
and the walls of the city. In 1790 the king decreed the applica- 
tion of the rent from ten lots in Havana to finish the church. 
The inhabitants were urged to contribute in work or money ; and 
it is said that they brought in poultry, which was very scarce, 
and donated the proceeds of the sales of their chickens, which 
then sold at a dollar apiece. The two old churches — " Nostra 
Senora de la Leche," and ''Our Lady of the Angels" — were torn 
down, and the materials sold for the benefit of the new church, as 
well as such ornaments as were salable. From these sources it 
was reported to the Bishop of Cuba that the following amounts 
had been obtained : From the ornaments of the old churches, 
$3,978 ; from donations offered by '' these wretched inhabitants," 
$850; the value of the stone in the two old and dilapidated 
churches, $800 — a total of $5,628. To this amount the govern- 
ment applied revenues which amounted to $11,000. It was not 
long after the means were secured before the edifice was com- 
pleted. It was blessed Dec. 8th, 1791. This new church, now 
called the cathedral, was constructed under the supervision of 
Don Mariana de la Roque, and presents a very pleasing architec- 
tural aspect. The front wall is carried above the roof, making a 
section of a bell-shaped cone, in excellent proportion and graceful 
curvature. The front entrance is supported by a circular arch, 
and upon each side stand two massive Doric columns supporting 
the entablature. The roof is supported by trusses, so that the 



132 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



whole auditorium is free from columns except two large stone 
pillars, which support the gallery immediately over the entrance, 
and thus form the vestibule. From the center of the ceiling 
hangs a unique chandelier, in which has been kept burning the 
sacred flame almost without intermission for nearly a hundred 
years. Near the vestibule, upon the left as you enter the church, 
is the sacred crucifix belonging to the early chapel of Nra. Sra. de 
la Leche. It is said that another ornament of this early chapel, a 
statue representing the blessed Virgin watching from the church 
over the camp of the new believers in her Son's divinity, is in 
the convent of St. Teresa, at Havana. A very interesting docu- 
ment is probably in the possession of the church in Cuba, which 
is an inventory taken under a decree, issued Feb 6, 1764, by 
Morel, Bishop of Santa Cruz, enumerating all the ornaments, 
altars, effigies, bells, and jewels belonging to the churches and 
religious associations of St. Augustine. This inventory and much 
of the property was taken to Cuba in a schooner called Our 
Lady of the Light. From this record it might be possible to 
learn something of the history of the bells in the belfry of the 
cathedral. Of these there are four hanging in separate niches cut 
in the wall of the elevated front, three in niches having their floors 
upon the same plane, but the two outer ones are constructed of a 
less height than the center niche in which hangs the largest bell ; 
the fourth is a small bell in a corresponding niche above the other 
three. I have always thought that one of these bells might have 
been used in the English church, though there is no record of it. 
The bell in the westerly niche, though the best in appearance, 
and having the brightest color, is probably the oldest bell upon 
this continent. The following inscription is cast upon its exte- 
rior surface ; 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



133 



t 



SANCTE JOSEPH 
ORA PRO NOBIS 

D 1682 

The other bells have inscriptions cast upon them, but no date. 
The small bell in the upper niche was placed there about fifty years 
ago, having been presented to the church by Don Geronimo Al- 
verez, the same who was alcalde (mayor) when the monument was 
built. An interesting anecdote is told of this man, showing the 
power he possessed in the town. It is said that, soon after the 
change of flags, a funeral procession approached the church fol- 
lowed by pall-bearers decorated with a white sash, a custom then 
first introduced, which is still retained. At the entrance to the 
church they were met by this valiant but ignorant don, who 
fiercely brandished a staff, and declared that not one of the impi- 
ous Freemasons should cross the threshold of the church except 
over his dead body. Argument was unavailing, and the cere- 
mony at the church was necessarily dispensed with on that occa- 
sion, though the precaution was taken to inform the old gentle- 
man, before the next funeral, that the sash was but a badge of 
mourning, and not the trappings of the devil. 

The cathedral is one of the most ornamental and interesting 
structures in the town, and it is to be hoped that the revenues of 



134 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. [1792-1795 

the church may be sufficient to keep it in perfect preservation. 
At present it needs repairs. * 

May 15th, 1792, the large barracks built by the British were 
burned. The lower story, only, was built of brick, the upper be- 
ing of wood, while the porches on all sides were supported by 
stone pillars. After the destruction of these barracks, the Spanish 
governor made use of the convent of "The Conception of Our 
Lady," or St. Francis, as it was afterward called, for the accom- 
modation of his troops. It has ever since been used for military 
purposes, though it still bears the canonized name Francis. 

Finding that the Minorcans were unable to receive the full 
benefit from the teachings of the priests because of their inability 
to understand the Spanish language, the Vicar-General asked-that 
there might be sent to St. Augustine a priest conversant with the 
language of this large proportion of his flock. In 1795, agree- 
ably to this request, Friar McAfry Catalan, an Irish priest speak- 
ing the Minorcan language, arrived in St. Augustine. The 
Spanish governor, Don Juan Nepomuseno Quesada, made great 
efforts to settle the province, and allowed many extraordinary 
privileges, such as were not enjoyed in any other part of the Span- 
ish dominions. In 1792 Florida was opened to general emigra- 
tion without exception of country or creed. It was rapidly pro- 
gressing to importance under this wise policy, when the Spanish 
Minister, growing jealous of the republican spirit of the new 
colonists, closed the gates against American citizens about the 
year 1804. Quesada, however, endeavored to procure a large 
Irish emigration, and wrote to Las Casas, Governor of Cuba, ask- 



* A fine view of the cathedral, showing the four bells in the tower, and the 
ornamental front, is given in the Souvenir Album of Views in St. Augustine. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



135 



ing that the government would aid those of Irish nationaUty and 
Catholic faith to settle in the province. The governor replied 
that no settlers should be admitted to Florida unless they paid 
their own transportation and maintained themselves. He in- 
structed Quesada to afford no other assistance than "lands/ 
protection, good treatment, and no molestation in matters of 
religion, although there shall be no other public worship but 
Catholic." He also referred him to the *'Law of the Indies." 
By this law lands were granted to new settlers, ''making a dis- 
tinction between gentlemen and peasants." A peasants portion 
was a town lot fifty by one hundred feet — arable land, capable of 
producing one hundred fanegas (bushels) of wheat and ten of In- 
dian corn, with as much land as two oxen can plow in a day for 
the raising of esculent roots ; also pasture-land for eight breeding 
sows, twenty cows, five mares, one hundred sheep, and twenty 
goats. 

A gentleman's portion was a lot in town one hundred by two 
hundred feet, and, of all the remainder, five times a peasant's 
portion. Many grants were made under this law by Governor 
Quesada, and the patents issued by him are the foundation of 
many titles of lands in the vicinity of St. Augustine. 

At this time there were many customs, ordinances, and habits 
of life existing in this old town of which no record or chronicle 
now remains. One most respectable gentleman of the place has 
mentioned to the author that his mother was married to three 
different husbands in the space of two years. This would seem 
a very strange proceeding at the present day, but can be readily 
understood when we learn that, a hundred years ago, the women 
of this town were obliged to marry for protection. The following 
are some of the orders issued September 2d, 1790, by the Span- 



136 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



ish governor ; Order No. 1 2 prohibits all women under the age of 
forty (whether widows or single) from living otherwise than under 
the immediate protection of their parents or relations. Order No. 
23 forbidding masters or supercargoes of vessels from selling their 
cargoes by wholesale without having first exposed the same for 
sale at retail eight days previously to the public. Order No. 25 
prohibiting persons from galloping horses through the streets, 
and dogs from going at large except hounds and pointers. Order 
No. 27 prohibiting persons from walking the streets after nine 
o'clock at night without a lantern with a light therein. Another 
order prohibited the owners of billiard tables from admitting 
tradesmen, laborers, domestics, and boys on working days. 

There were few events worth recording which happened under 
the Spanish rule after 1 800, or at least that are of interest to the 
general reader. Just after the recession the Indians attacked the 
settlements, and burned Bella Vista, the country seat of Governor 
Moultrie, seven miles south of St. Augustine. These Indian con- 
tests continued during the whole succeeding period up to the 
change of flags, and were then transferred to the Americans. The 
Indians were in almost every instance incited by white men, or 
goaded to desperation by the deceptions of their white neighbors, 
who were ever attempting to either make slaves of the Indians or 
procure what negro slaves were owned by them. Just before the 
cession of Florida to the United States, there were said to be 
about a thousand Indians in the vicinity of St. Augustine. These 
obtained a living by hunting, raising herds of cattle, and crops of 
corn, and bringing wood into St. Augustine. This they were said 
to carry in bundles on their backs. About this time they were 
all nearly starved by the trickery of some unprincipled residents 
of St. Augustine. At the period when the attention of themselves 



i8ii] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1 37 

and their negro slaves was directed to the cultivation of their 
crops a few worthless wretches, for the purpose of alarming the 
Indians, and inducing them to sell their slaves for almost nothing, 
went among the nation and spread the report that two thousand 
men under General Jackson were coming to expel them from their 
lands and carry away their slaves and cattle. This form of impo- 
sition had before proved successful, and did in this case. The 
Indians upon this abandoned their lands and sold their slaves, 
but before the next season experienced great suffering from want, 
while the unprincipled speculators having gratified their avarice 
were indifferent to the needs of the poor savages. 

In January, i8n, President Monroe appointed George Mat- 
thews and John McKee commissioners, with power to occupy the 
Floridas with force, ''should there be room to entertain a sus- 
picion that a design existed in any other power to occupy the 
provinces." In pursuance of these instructions, which at this day 
must be considered simply extraordinary, one of the comraission- . 
ers came to St. Augustine, and made a proposition to the Span- 
ish governor to surrender the province to the United States, which 
was of course refused. Thereupon it was given out that the 
United States intended to occupy the province, and those whose 
interest would be served endeavored to bring such a result about 
by every means in their power. This was the period of the em- 
bargo in the United States. The port of Fernandina affording 
deep water, and a convenient point for shipping American pro- 
ductions, and being under the Spanish flag, became the resort 
for a large fleet of vessels. This was of course obnoxious to the 
United States authorities, who offered every encouragement to a 
large class of citizens who were anxious to escape from the Span- 
ish rule. 



138 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

In March, 181 2, a large number of these individuals organized 
a provisional government, and soon after, with the help of Com- 
modore Campbell, United States Navy, obtained the capitulation 
of the town and fort on Amelia Island. Still encouraged, and led 
by citizens and officers of the United St^es, these men, styling 
themselves patriots, began a march toward St. Augustine, and 
taking possession of the old Fort Mosa, invested the place. From 
this place they were dislodged by a Spanish gun-boat, but they 
still hovered about the town and cut off all supplies. It is said 
that the courage and activity of a company of negroes commanded 
by a free black, named Prince, alone saved the people of the 
town from starvation. At this period a barrel of corn sold for six- 
teen dollars. At the same time the Indians were urged to attack 
the Americans and "patriots," and for the space of a year there 
was a constant strife between these parties throughout Florida. 
In May, 18 13, President Monroe, seeing that he had gone too 
far in incroaching upon the territory of a friendly nation, with- 
drew the American troops from Florida. These incursions under 
American protection in East Florida, like General Jackson's un- 
hesitating course in attacking the British on Spanish territory in 
West Florida, plainly showed the King of Spain how precarious 
and unreliable was the tenure of his sovereignty. The Spanish 
nation had held the territory of Florida for two hundred and fifty 
years, constantly yielding to the French and English portions 
adjacent originally claimed by Spain. The great hopes of wealth 
and a vast revenue from the province had never been realized ; 
but, on the contrary, vast outlays had constantly been required, 
which were supplied by the more prosperous provinces and the 
home government. In 181 1, Governor Estrada writes to the Cap- 
tain-General of Cuba, that the $140,013 and 4 reals allowed annu- 



I8i2] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1 39 

ally for salaries was urgently needed ; also that there were no 
funds wherewith to pay '' the annual presents of the Indians, the 
payments due invalids, Florida pensioners and settlers, who re- 
ceive a daily pension and charity, whose outcries are so continual 
that the most obdurate heart would melt at them with compas- 
sion." 

Under these circumstances it was but natural that the King of 
Spain should be willing to rid himself of this so very unprofitable 
province. The United States, upon the other hand, were anxious 
to obtain the possession of the peninsula to complete their coast 
line. 

In 1 8 19 a treaty of amity was concluded between his Catholic 
Majesty and the United States, whereby the two Floridas were 
ceded to the latter power as an indemnity for damages estimated 
at five million dollars. This treaty was dated February 2 2d, 
181 9, and ratified February 2 2d, 1821. 

Seven years before the cession the Spanish Cortes had issued an 
order to the authorities of all the Spanish colonies to erect in 
some public place of their principal town a monument as a 
memorial of the liberal constitution which had been granted to 
Spain and her provinces. Accordingly, the City Council of St. 
Augustine, probably with the crown's funds, erected upon the pub- 
lic square a monument to commemorate a grant of the privilege 
of representation, which the people of the province never even 
asked for, much less enjoyed. At the east end of the public 
square, or ^' Plaza de la Constitucion," as it is now called, there 
stood, in Spanish times, the government drug store, two private 
houses used as dwellings, a bar-room, and the town market. 
Adjoining the market was a bell-tower, and the guard in front of 
the public jail, which stood where the St. Augustine Hotel now 



140 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

is, used to strike the bell in the tower to mark the hours, which 
were counted with the old-fashioned sand-glass standing within 
the tower under the supervision of the guard. As these build- 
ings occupied about a fourth part of the present plaza, the monu- 
ment, though now situated toward the western side of the square, 
then stood in the center of the inclosure. Soon after its com- 
pletion, the Spanish government issued orders that all monu- 
ments erected to the constitution throughout its realms should be 
razed. The citizens of St. Augustine were much grieved to think 
of losing their monument, which was considered a great orna- 
ment to the public park, and appealed to the governor and prin- 
cipal men to allow the decree to be disregarded. It was finally 
decided to allow the monument to stand without the inscription. 
The citizens accordingly removed the marble tablets upon which 
the inscriptions had been engraved, and placed them in conceal- 
ment, where they remained until 1818, when they were restored 
without opposition. This monument is the only one in exist- 
ence commemorative of the Spanish constitution of 181 2. It is 
twenty feet high, standing upon a foundation of granite with a 
square pedestal, from which the shaft rises in a curve, and thence 
tapers with rectilinear surfaces to its top, which is surmounted by 
a cannon-ball, it is constructed of coquina, and its surface is 
cemented and kept whitewashed, except the ball upon the sum- 
mit,- which is painted black. Don Geronimo Alvarez was al- 
calde at the time it was erected. Upon three of the four sides 
there is set in the masonry a small marble tablet bearing the 
inscription, "Plaza de la Constitucion." Upon the east side 
is the large marble tablet upon which is engraved the follow- 
ing : 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. I4I 

Plaza de la 
Constitiicion. 
Proviidga en esia Ciudad 
de San Agustin de la Florida 
Oriental en 1 7 de Ociuhre de 
1 8 1 2 siendo Gober?iador el 
Brigadier Don Sebastian 
Kindaleni Cuba Here 
del order de Santiago. 
Peira eterna mevioria 
El Ayuntamienio Consti- 
iucional Erigioeste Obelisco 
dirigido por Don Fer- 
nando de la Plaza^ 
Arredondo el Joven 
Regidor De canoy 
Don Franciscor Robira 
Procurador Sindico. 
Ano de 18 13 

Translation. 

Plaza of the Constitution, promulgated in the city of St. Au- 
gustine, East Florida, on the 17th day of October, the year 
1 81 2. Being then Governor the Brigadier Don Sebastian Kin- 
\ dalem, Knight of the order of San Diego. 

FOR ETERNAL REMEMBRANCE, 

the Constitutional City Council erected this monument under the 
supervision of Don Fernando de la Maza Arredondo, the young 



* Maza, engraver's mistake. 



142 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

municipal officer, oldest member of the corporation, and Don 
Franciscor Robira, Attorney and Recorder. 

Immediately under the date there is cut in the marble tablet 
the Masonic emblem of the square and compass. The reader can 
readily believe that the City Council of St. Augustine in 1813 
were all too good Catholics to be responsible for this symbol of 
Masonry. The history of that piece of vandalism is said to be as 
follows : Soon after the close of the war of the Rebellion, the 
" young bloods" amused themselves by endeavoring to create an 
alarm in the mind of the United States commandant, and, by ex- 
ecuting a series of cabalistic marks at different localities through- 
out the town, to convey the impression that a secret society was 
in existence, and about to do some act contrary to the peace and 
dignity of the United States. Besides other marks and notices 
posted upon private and public buildings about the town this 
square and compass was one night cut upon the tablet of the 
Spanish monument, where it will remain as long as the tablet 
exists, an anomaly, without this explanation. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FLORIDA CEDED TO THE UNITED STATES. — ATTEMPT OF THE SPANISH 
GOVERNOR TO CARRY AWAY THE RECORDS. — DESCRIPTION OF ST. 

AUGUSTINE WHEN TRANSFERRED. POPULATION IN 183O, TOWN 

DURING THE INDIAN WAR. OSCEOLA AND COA-COU-CHE. A TRUE 

ACCOUNT OF THE DUNGEON IN THE OLD FORT, AND THE IRON 
CAGES. — THE INDIANS BROUGHT TO ST. AUGUSTINE IN I 875. 

East Florida was delivered by Governor Coppinger to Lieut. 
Rob. Butler, U. S. A., on the loth of July, 1821. It had been in- 
tended to have the transfer take place on the anniversary of the 
declaration of American Independence; but the Spaniards, feeling 
no particular regard for the 4th of July, made no efforts to hasten 
the settlement of the prelimii:^ries, and were therefore unprepared 
to turn over the province until the tenth of the month. 

On the 30th of March, 1822, Congress passed an act incorpo- 
rating into a territory the two Floridas, and authorizing a legis- 
lative council and a superior court, which were to meet alternately 
at Pensacola and St. Augustine. William P. Duval was ap- 
pointed the first governor, to hold his office for three years. It is 
an interesting fact that among those who were saved with Laudon- 
nere at the massacre of the French Huguenots v/as one " Francis 
Duval of Rouen, son of him of the Iron Crown of Rouen." 

General Jackson had been compelled to imprison the Spanish 
governor of West Florida for refusing to deliver certain papers 
that were considered indispensable. Fearing that the attempt 

143 



144 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

would be made by the Governor of East Florida to carry away 
papers which should be delivered with the territory, General 
Jackson sent Captain J. R. Hanham from Pensacola to demand 
such papers and records as properly belonged to the Americans 
after the change of flags. Captain Hanham made the journey 
across the State — a distance of 600 miles — in seventeen days. He 
arrived none too soon, as the vessel was then in the harbor upon 
which it was intended to send papers and archives sufficient to 
fill eleven large boxes. After Governor Coppinger had refused 
to deliver these, Captain Hanham forced a room in the govern- 
ment house and seized the boxes, which had already been packed 
with the papers ready for shipment. Other valuable papers were 
shipped and lost on the passage to Havana, some say destroyed by 
pirates, others by the wreck of the vessel. 

In 1823 St. Augustine witnessed for the second time the as- 
sembly of a legislative body, the second session of the territorial 
council being held that year in the government house. In the 
same year a treaty was concluded at Moultrie Creek, seven miles 
south of the city, with the Indian tribes of Florida, in which they 
agreed to surrender all their lands in the territory. It is needless 
to say that this treaty was never executed. 

Forbes's "Sketches,'' published the year of the cession, gives an 
interesting account of the condition of St. Augustine at the end 
of the Spanish possession. It is related in these words: ''The 
town, built in Spanish manner, forms an oblong square, or paral- 
lelogram ; the streets are regularly laid out, but the buildings have 
not been put up to conform strictly to that rule. The streets are 
generally so narrow as to admit with difficulty carriages to pass 
each other. To make up for this inconvenience they have a 
terrace foundation, and, being shaded, renders the walking very 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



'45 



agreeable. The houses are built generally of a freestone peculiar 
to the country, which, with the aid of an outer coat of plaster, 
has a handsome and durable effect. They are only two stories 
high, thick walls with spacious entries, large doors, windows, and 
balconies, and a garden lot to each, more commonly stocked with 
orange and -fig trees, interspersed with grape-vines and flowers. 
On entering this old town from the sea, the grandeur of the 
Castle of Fort St. Mark's presents itself, and imposes a degree of 
respect upon travelers upon seeing a fort forty feet high, in the 
modern taste of military architecture, commanding the entrance. 
The works are bronzed and squamated by age, but will, with 
some American ingenuity, be justly deemed one of the handsom- 
est in the western hemisphere. It mounts sixty guns of twenty- 
four pounds, of which sixteen are bronze, and is calculated to 
contain one thousand men for action ; with which, and the cour- 
age such a fort should inspire, it is capable of a noble defense, 
having in old times resisted some formidable attacks. It is not 
liable to be shattered by balls, nor does it expose its defenders to 
the fatal effects of storms [stormings]. From the castle, south- 
ward, are the remains of a stone wall trenching its glacis, built to 
prevent the incroachment of the sea ; along this is a very pleasant 
walk as far as the market-place, which is opposite the old Govern- 
ment House in the center of the town, and separated from it by 
an oblong square called the parade, on which there is a Roman 
Catholic church of modern construction and quite ornamental. 
In front of this there formerly stood a handsome and spacious 
edifice, built in modern style by Lieut. -Governor IMoultrie for 
a State-house, which was not completed. For want of an exte- 
rior coat of plaster it has crumbled to pieces, leaving not a single 
vestige of its former splendor. 
7 



146 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



" The old Government House, now much decayed, is occupied 
as a barrack for the Royal Artillery. It leaves the marks of a 
heavy pile of buildings in the Spanish style, having balconies in 
front, galleries and areas on both sides, with several irregular ad- 
ditions well contrived for the climate. Among these was an out- 
look built by Governor Grant, on the v\'estern summit of the 
main building, which commanded a full view of the sea-coast and 
surrounding country. The garden attached to the Government 
House is surrounded by a stone wall ; it was formerly laid out 
with great taste, and stocked with most of the exotic and indige- 
nous plants common to the tropics and the Middle States, such 
as the pomegranate, plantain, pineapple, papau, olive, and sugar- 
cane. The orange and lemon trees here grow to large size, and 
produce better fruit than they do in Spain and Portugal. 

' ' From the square environed by orange trees the streets extend 
southwardly to some stone buildings, one of which was formerly 
a Franciscan convent, now converted into a jail, but under the 
British was used as barracks. In addition they constructed the 
very large and handsome buildings, four stories high, of wood, 
with materials brought from New York and intended for Pensa- 
cola, but detained by Governor Grant. These barracks at the 
southern extremity of the peninsula in which the town is built 
formed an elegant appendage to it, but were burned and now ex- 
hibit only the stack of chimneys. In a course westward from these 
vestiges of royalty are streets leading to a bridge formerly of wood 
but now of stone, crossing a small creek running parallel with 
the sea, on the east side, and St. Sebastian on the west. Over 
this are several valuable and highly improved orange groves and 
several redoubts, forming the south and western lines of forti- 
fication. Near the bridge, in the same street as the Govern- 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. I47 

ment House, is the burying-ground of the Protestants, where 
stood an Episcopal church with a handsome steeple, not a ves- 
tige of which remains. 

" Before the entrance of some of the houses built by the Span- 
iards rises a portico of stone arches, the roofs of which are com- 
monly flat. There are nearly one thousand houses of all descrip- 
tions in the town, which is about three-quarters of a mile in 
length by one-quarter in breadth. As it is built upon a point of 
land it is in some degree insulated by the conflux of Matanzas 
River and St. Sebastian Creek, by which means the egress by 
land must be by the northern gates, and by a bridge and cause- 
way in a western direction. The whole forms a very picturesque 
piece of scenery, being surrounded by orange groves and kitchen 
gardens. Within the first line [of redoubts upon the north] was 
a small settlement of Germans, with a church of their own, on 
St. Mark's River : within the same was an Indian town, with a 
church also ; but it must be regretted that nothing of these re- 
mains, as they serve if not as temples certainly as ornamental 
relics. 

"The governor has given the land belonging to this township 
as glebe land to the parish church, which will no doubt be con- 
firmed by the American Government in its liberal appropriations 
for religious purposes. The harbor of St. Augustine would be 
one of the best in the world were it not for the bar, which admits 
vessels drawing not more than six feet with safety. It is sur- 
rounded by breakers which are not as dangerous as they appear. 
There is a roadstead on the north side of the bar with good an- 
chorage for vessels drawing too much water to enter the harbor. 
[A part of Anastatia Island] is known as Fish's Island, and 
from the hospitality of Mr. Jesse Fish, one of the oldest inhabi- 



148 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



tants of the province, is remarkable for the date and olive trees, 
the flavor of the oranges, an(^ the cultivation of his garden." * 

The location of the Protestant cemetery as here described is 
confusing, being located near " this bridge, in the same street as 
the Government House." Probably the text should read, in the 
same street as the Convent House, which would place the Episco- 
pal church and cemetery near the southern end of St. George Street. 

Another account, published about the same period as Forbes's, 
gives the following picture of the town : "Somewhat more than 
halfway between the fort and the south end of the western penin- 
sula a stone causeway and wooden bridge crosses Mari-Sanchez 
(Santa Maria) Creek, and connects the two portions or precincts 
of the town. It is to the north of this causeway that the principal 
part of the buildings are placed, forming a parallelogram some- 
what more than a quarter of a mile wide from east to west, and 
three-quarters in length from north to south. The neck of land 
(on which the town is built) is divided into two peninsulas by 
Mari-Sanchez (Santa Maria) Creek, running parallel to the harbor, 
but heading in some low lands within the lines. It is on the 
eastern peninsula alone that the town is built, the western one 
being occupied by kitchen gardens, corn fields, orange groves, 
and pasture grounds. The houses on the side of the harbor are 
chiefly of stone, having only one story above the ground floor : 
these latter are invariably laid with a coat of tabia, a mixture of 
sand and shells, and are scarcely ever used but as store rooms, the 
families living in the upper stories. f 



* Forbes's Sketches, pp. 85 to Sg. 

f From inquiry of the old inhabitants I do not find this statement con- 
firmed. Perhaps the richer class of people made no use of the ground floors, 
but the general custom was to use them as is still done. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, i^g 

''The dwellings on the back streets with few exceptions, par- 
ticularly in the north-west quarter, have but the ground floor, and 
are generally built of wood, though stone ones are common, but 
almost all are laid with tabia flooring." * 

At the census of 1830 St. Augustine and environs contained 
four thousand inhabitants, of whom eight hundred and forty-four 
were free blacks. The large number of free persons of color is 
accounted for by the fact that St. Augustine under the Spanish 
had been an asylum for all the runaway slaves from the neigh- 
boring colonies. They had been formed into a military company, 
and after the "patriot war" of 1812 to 1816 lands had been 
donated to them for their semces. It was also said that those 
born in the province were registered from their birth, and a severe 
penalty imposed upon any master of a vessel who should attempt 
to carry any of them away. 

In 1822 an attempt was made to deprive the Roman Catholics 
of the cathedral. A petition of the inhabitants was thereupon pre- 
sented to Congress, and that body passed an act on February 8, 
1827, granting and confirming to the Catholic society of St. Au- 
gustine the building and grounds where they now worship. 

In 1 82 1 Rev. Andrew Fowler, a missionary from Charleston, 
South Carolina, organized the present Episcopal parish. The 
corner-stone of the present church edifice was laid by the Rev. 
Edward Phillips on the 23d of June, 1825, and the building was 
consecrated by Bishop Bowen of South Carolina in the year 1833. 
The church is a small and plain structure, but in very good taste, 
and ornamented with a steeple. It is built of coquina, and from 
its location fronting the plaza, is one of the most noticeable build- 
ings in the city. 

* Vignole's History. 



I^o HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

The Presbyterian church, though built later, 1830, has a less 
modern appearance. This church, which was fitted in quite the 
old-fashioned style, with high-backed pews facing the entrance 
doors between which was the pulpit, underwent a remodeling of 
the interior in 1879. 

By act of Congress dated March 30, 1823, East and West Florida 
were united as one territory. Florida was admitted into the 
Union as a State, March 3d, 1845. 

In 1830 there was quite a spirit of speculation rife in the old 
city. A canal into the St. Johns River and another between the 
Halifax and Matanzas rivers, also a railway to Picolata were pro- 
jected, and sanguine people fully expected to see these projects 
completed immediately. To this day the railway alone has been 
completed, and is barely able to pay a dividend to its stockhold- 
ers with a tariff of two dollars for a carriage of fifteen miles. All 
the other projects are still being talked of. 

One of the bubbles of the speculation of this period was a new 
and large city to be built north of the fort. Peter Sken Smith, a 
gentleman of some means, erected the frame of a large hotel on 
grounds outside of the city gate, and there were also built there 
several houses and stores, a market, and a wharf. Judge Doug- 
lass, the first judge of the territory, entered largely into the busi- 
ness of raising the silk-worm. He set out a large number of mul- 
berry trees and built a large building on his plantation called 
Macarasi, or more commonly Macariz, situated just beyond the 
end of the shell road, which gave to the place the general appel- 
lation of the "Cocoonery." Judge Douglass has been ridiculed 
for yielding to the " silk-growing fever,"' but the enterprise which 
was so disastrous to him and others will one day become a lucra- 
tive business for manv in the mild climate of Florida. 



1833] HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 151 

The large and handsome residence on the lot adjoining the 
Episcopal church, now owned by L. H. Tyler, Esq., was built by 
Peter Sken Smith, in 1833. The artisans and much of the mate- 
rials were brought from the North, and the sum of forty thousand 
dollars was said to have been invested on the house and furniture. 
Shortly after the house was for sale at less than two thousand dol- 
lars. 

The plaza was inclosed about this time, and the cannon placed 
at the corners. The old guns yet to be seen about the city were 
used by several private citizens to ornament the corners of the 
streets upon which their lots fronted. In a cut published thirty 
years ago showing the plaza, etc., the date-palms in Mr. Tyler's 
yard appear to reach to an altitude almost the same as at pres- 
ent, showing the extreme slowness of their upward growth. 

St. Augustine,, immediately after it came under the jurisdiction 
of the United States, began to receive a most desirable addition 
to its population in a class of Americans of culture and means, 
who had long desired to avail themselves of the benefits and de- 
lights of its climate, but had hesitated about becoming citizens of 
the place under Spanish rule. I have heard old citizens say that 
there was no town of its size in the country where there were so 
many persons of refined tastes and independent means as in St. 
Augustine at that time. The Indian war soon after brought to 
St. Augustine a large addition to its population. This consisted 
mostly of the military, both regulars and militia, of Florida and 
the neighboring States, and the many officers, agents, and at- 
taches of the government. It was the government headquarters 
and a depot of supplies, and for a season was full of bustle, ex- 
citement, and more activity than it has ever experienced since. 

The incidents of that war would be out of place in a history of 



1^2 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

St. Augustine. Two of the principal characters of that exciting 
time were, however, brought to St. Augustine, and, with about 
three hundred other Creeks and Seminoles, confined in Fort Mar- 
ion. Osceola, a young chief of the Mickasookie tribe, of great 
daring, considerable education, and great natural abilities, inher- 
ited with the Caucasian blood derived from his father, v/as for some 
time confined at St. Augustine, and afterwards removed to Fort 
Moultrie, in Charleston Harbor, where his body is now buried. 
Though captured through a base trick, Osceola had, through a 
sullen sense of honor, refused to escape from Fort Marion with 
Wild Cat. It was said that he died of a broken heart when he 
learned the fate of his nation, and the intention of the govern- 
ment to remove the remnant of the Seminoles west of the Missis- 
sippi. 

The casemate in the south-west bastion of the fort has been 
rendered famous by the escape of a body of Indians, including the 
famous Coa-cou-che. This Indian, also called Wild Cat, was the 
youngest son of Philip, a great chief among the Seminoles, He 
was a man of great courage, of an adventurous disposition, and 
savage nature, lacking the intellectual abilities of Osceola, but 
possessing great influence among his nation. Like most of the 
young chiefs, he was bitterly opposed to the execution of the 
treaty signed by the older chiefs, by which the Seminoles agreed 
to remove west of the Mississippi. At an interview immediately 
before the breaking out of hostilities. Colonel Harney observed to 
him that unless the Seminoles removed according to the treaty 
the whites would exterminate them. To this Coa-cou-che re- 
plied, that Iste-chatte (the Indian) did not understand that 
word. The Great Spirit he knew might exterminate them, but 
the pale-faces could not ; else, why had they not done it before .? 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1 53 

During the war this young chief was captured and placed under 
guard in Fort Marion. It is reported that he was at first confined 
in one of the close cells, and, in order to be removed to a case- 
mate which had an embrasure through wdrich he had planned to 
escape, he complained of the dampness of his cell and feigned 
sickness. This, like many other incidents connected with his 
escape, is probably fictitious. There were at the time a consid- 
erable number of Indians confined in the fort, and unless they 
showed themselves querulous and dangerous, they were all al- 
lowed the freedom of the court during the day, and confined at 
night in the several casemates. It is probable that Coa-cou-che 
chose the casemate in the south-west bastion from which to make 
his escape, because of a platform which is in that casemate. 
This platform is raised some five feet from the floor, and built of 
masonry directly under the embrasure through which he escaped. 
This opening had been constructed high up in the outer wall of 
the casemate to admit light and air. It is thirteen feet above the 
floor, and eight feet above the platform, which had probably been 
constructed for the convenience and dignity of the judges, who 
doubtless used this casemate as a judgment room. The aper- 
ture is about two feet high by nine inches wide, and some eight- 
een feet above the surface of the ground at the foot of the wall 
within the moat. It is said that as he took his airing upon the 
terre-plein the evening before his escape, Coa-cou-che lingered 
longer than usual, gazing far out into the west as the sun went 
down, probably thinking that ere another sunset he would be 
beyond the limit of his farthest vision, enjoying the freedom of 
his native forests. That night he squeezed his body, said to have 
been attenuated by voluntary abstinence from food, through the 
embrasure in the wall, and silently dropped into the moat at the 



154 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, 

foot of the bastion. The moat was dry, and the station of every 
guard was well known to the Indian, so that escape was no lon- 
ger difficult. Coa-cou-che immediately joined his nation, but was 
afterwards captured and sent west. He was recalled by General 
Worth, and used to secure the submission of his tribe. General 
Worth declared to him that if his people were not at Tampa on a 
certain day he would hang from the yard of the vessel on which he 
had returned, and was then confined. This message he was ordered 
to send to his people by Indian runners furnished by the general. 
He was directed to deliver to the messengers twenty twigs, one 
for each day, and to make it known to his people that when the 
last twig in the hands of the messenger was broken, so would the 
cords which bound his life to earth be snapped asunder unless 
they were all at the general's camp prepared to depart to the res- 
ervation provided for them at the west. The struggle in the mind 
of Coa-cou-che was severe, but his love of life was strong. He 
sent by the messenger his entreaties that his people should appear 
at the time and place designated, and take up their abode in the 
prairies of the west. Desiring to impress upon his people that 
this was the will of the Great Spirit, with consummate policy he 
directed the messenger to relate to them this, Coa-cou-che's 
dream : *' The day and manner of my death are given out so that 
whatever I may encounter, I fear nothing. The spirits of the 
Seminoles protect me ; and the spirit of my twin-sister who died 
many years ago watches over me ; when I am laid in ihe earth I 
shall go to live with her. She died suddenly. I was out hunt- 
ing, and when seated by my campfire alone I heard a strange 
noise — a voice that told me to go to her. The camp was some dis- 
tance off, but I took my wife and started. The night was dark and 
gloomy ; the wolves howled about me. I went from hommock 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, 



155 



to hommock, sounds came often to my ear. I thought she was 
speaking to me. At daylight I reached the camp, but she was 
dead. I sat down alone under the long gray moss of the trees, 
when I heard strange sounds again. I felt myself moving, and 
M'ent along into a new country where all was bright and beautiful. 
I saw clear water ponds, rivers, and prairies upon which the sun 
never set. All was green ; the grass grew high, and the deer 
stood in the midst looking at me. I then saw a small white cloud 
approaching, and when just before me, out of it came my twin- 
sister dressed in white, and covered with bright silver ornaments. 
Her long black hair which I had often braided fell down upon 
her back. She clasped me around the neck and said, ' Coa-cou- 
che, Coa-cou-che.' I shook with fear ; I knew her voice, but 
could not speak. With one hand she gave me a string of white 
beads ; in the other she held a cup sparkling with pure water ; 
as I drank she sang the peace song of the Seminoles, and danced 
around me. She had silver bells upon her feet which made a 
loud sweet noise. Taking from her bosom something, she laid 
it before me, when a bright blaze streamed above us. She took 
me by the hand and said, 'All is peace.' I wanted to ask for 
others, but she shook her head, stepped into the cloud, and was 
gone. All was silent. I felt myself sinking until I reached the 
earth when I met my brother, Chilka. " * 

Coa-cou-che's appeal was successful. The messengers returned 
with the whole remnant of the tribe three days before the expira- 
tion of the time. They all embarked and took up their resi- 
dence on the prairies, where the sun never sets and the grass 
grows high. It was not a field in which Coa-cou-che could dis- 

* Sprague's History of the Seminole War. 



iS6 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



tinguish himself, and from this time his name was never heard, 
except in connection with his past exploits in Florida. 

Soon after the United States took possession of St. Augustine, 
the government began to make extensive improvements in and 
about the town. The barracks were immediately pemodeled, and 
built as they are at present. The fort, which had become much 
dilapidated, was repaired and fitted for a garrison. It was while 
this work was being prosecuted that the cell under the north-east 
bastion was discovered, which has ever since been associated with 
the Huguenot massacre and the Spanish Inquisition, in annual 
editions of guide-books and tourists' letters. It is constantly 
designated as ''the Dungeon," and, lest T should not be under- 
stood in referring to it as a cell, I shall also call it a dungeon, in 
explaining how it was found and what it did not contain. For 
some reason unexplained by any record left by the Spaniards, the 
terre-plein, near the north-east bastion, had been built upon large 
wooden beams. At the time the Americans took possession 
of the fort they found the last casemate, fronting on the court 
on the east side, filled with the coquina floor of the terre-plein, 
which had fallen in, as the timbers supporting it had rotted. 
Naturally, this half-filled casemate had become the place of de- 
posit for all rubbish accumulated upon any part of the works. 
In the course of repairs the rubbish was cleared out of the 
casemate, and the entrance into the adjoining cell exposed. En- 
tering this cell, and examining the masonry for anticipated repairs, 
the engineer in charge, said to be Lieutenant Tuttle, U. S. A., 
discovered a newness of appearance about a small portion of the 
masonry of the north wall. Under his instruction a mason cut 
out this newer stone-work and found that the small arch, under 
which those who now enter the " dungeon " crawl, had been 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



157 



walled up. Why the entrance had thus been filled with masonry 
is unknown, but it is extremely unlikely that it was done to in- 
sure the perpetual captivity and death of a human being. The 
engineer and mason entered the cell, and made an examination 
of the interior with the light of a candle. Near the entrance were 
the remains of a fire, the ashes and bits of pine wood burned 
off toward the center of the pile in which they had been con- 
sumed. Upon the side of the cell was a rusty staple, with about 
three links of chain attached thereto. Near the wall, on the west 
side of the cell, were a few bones. Finding these very rotten, 
and crumbling to pieces under his touch, the engineer spread his 
handkerchief upon the floor and brushed very gently the few 
fragments of bone into it. These were shown the surgeon then 
stationed at the post, who said they might be human bones, but 
were so badly crumbled and decayed he could not determine 
definitely. Nothing else was found in the cell.* The iron cages, 
which have been described as a part of the fixtures of this terrible 
dungeon, and which it has been said contained human bones, 
appear upon the united testimony of old inhabitants to have 
been found outside of the city gates entirely empty. It is said 
that, in 1822, a Mr. Deever, a butcher, while digging post holes 
on the grounds opposite to those now owned by Mr. Kingsland, 
just north of the city gates, came upon the cages and dug them up. 
One of them was made use of in his workshop by Mr. Bartolo 
Oliveros, a locksmith. The other one was allowed by Mr. Deever 
to lie near the city gate until it was appropriated by some un- 
known party. The cages are described as having had much the 

*The finding of any bones is denied by Major H. W. Benham, U. S. A., 
on the authority of a Mr. Ridgely, Lieutenant Tattle's overseer. Major 
Benham took charge of the work upon the fort in January, 1839. 



158 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



shape of a coffin ; and the tradition is, that a human being had 
been placed in each, the soUd bands of iron riveted about his body, 
and, after Hfe had been extinguished by the horrible torture of 
starvation, cages and corpses had been buried in the ''scrub" 
then covering the ground north of the gate. Doubtless these 
cages were used for the punishment of criminals condemned for 
some heinous crime ; but whether they were introduced by the 
Spaniards or English is not known. An old gentleman, Mr. 
Christobal Bravo, tells me his mother has related to him that 
she had seen, during the English possession, these cages, or simi- 
lar ones, suspended at the gates of the city, with criminals in- 
carcerated therein. In the face of the facts it is feared that St. 
Augustine must lose much of the romance and melancholy in- 
terest excited by the stories of Spanish cruelty and torture. It is 
very probable that this inner cell at the fort was used as a place 
of confinement for criminals, and it is possible that some may 
have died therein. In fact, it was so reported and generally be- 
lieved at the time the poet Bryant visited St. Augustine in 1843. 
Fairbanks, on page 157 of his ''History and Antiquities of St. 
Augustine,'' published in 1858, refers to the instruments of tor- 
ture and skeletons walled in the old fort. 

The account, as recited by the " Old Sergeant," Mr. McGuire, 
ordnance-sergeant, U. S. A., gives the current legend connected 
with the dungeon. The sergeant alone can do justice to the nar- 
rative, in presence of an appreciative audience clustered around 
his smoking torch under the vaulted arch of the grim, damp cell. 
No pen can transcribe the sergeant's Irish brogue, or his periods, 
his tones, and his inimitable expression of countenance, which 
seems to evince a combination of honest doubt and wishful cre- 
dence in the melancholy tale of Spanish barbarity, which has 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. I^q 

proved so remunerative to himself, and so acceptable to the 
novelty hunting tourist. While the sergeant's lamp holds out 
to burn, no visitor to St. Augustine should fail to hear his 
tale, ''Just as it was told to me," as he is particular to ex- 
plain. 

In the spring of 1875 a body of Comanche, Kiowa, and Chey- 
enne chiefs were removed from the West by order of the govern- 
ment, and sent to St. Augustine. These Indians were, at first, 
confined within the old fort, under a guard furnished from the 
post at St. Francis Barracks. They had been sent under the 
charge of Captain Pratt, of the Tenth U. S. Cavalry. The se- 
lection of this officer was a most fortunate choice. Through his 
indubitable faith in the possibility of developing the better nature 
of the Indian, together with his unwearied perseverance under 
difficulties that none but a missionary among the depraved races 
of men can realize, by his great tact and his patience he suc- 
ceeded in demonstrating that, by proper methods and eff'orts, the 
Indian problem is capable of a satisfactory solution. Under the 
system adopted by Captain Pratt the guard was soon dispensed 
with, and the Indians treated very much as if they were a com- 
pany of enlisted soldiers. They walked the streets, attended 
the churches, and had their school, with no other restraint or 
hindrance than is imposed upon soldiers. They soon acted as 
their own guard day and night, assumed the dress of a soldier, 
and many of the manners and habits of the white man. After 
remaining at St. Augustine for about two years, a portion of the 
company were sent to the Hampton, Va. , school, and the re- 
mainder were returned to their native tribes, where they must yet 
exert a powerful influence for the advance of civilization. 

It is a remarkable coincidence that the first practical demon- 



l6o HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. [1835 

stration of the ability of the government to elevate and civilize 
the Indian, and the first advance in a rational method of making 
citizens of the remnant of our aboriginal population, was inaug- 
urated at St. Augustine. The evil in the nature of the Cau- 
casian who first landed in America, upon the shores of Florida, 
has proved a curse and a blight to the red man. The gratify- 
ing success that crowned the philanthropic policy inaugurated by 
the government among the representatives of the Indian race, 
while prisoners at St. Augustine, will, it is to be hoped, be the 
harbinger of the speedy civilization of the whole of the Indian 
race existing in America. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ST. AUGUSTINE AS IT USED TO BE. — CUSTOMS. THE OLDEST STRUC- 
TURE IN THE UNITED STATES. PRESENT POPULATION. OB- 
JECTS OF INTEREST. BUILDINGS ANCIENT AND MODERN. ST. 

AUGUSTINE DURING THE REBELLION. CLIMATE. ADVANTAGES 

AS A HEALTH RESORT. 

In February, 1835, an unprecedented depression of tempera- 
ture destroyed the orange trees which embosomed the town and 
rendered the place exceedingly attractive. The deep green foli- 
age concealed the dingy and often unsightly buildings. The fra- 
grance of the blossoms in spring was almost overpowering, and 
was said to be perceptible far out to sea. The income of the 
people of the town derived from the sale of their oranges was not 
far from seventy-five thousand dollars annually, and the crop that 
was yearly sent from St. Augustine in sailing vessels exceeded 
three million oranges. One orange tree upon the plaza is re- 
ported to have borne twelve thousand oranges. In 1829, Mr. 
A. Alverez picked from one tree in his garden six thousand five 
hundred oranges, and it is recorded that "an old citizen picked 
from one tree eight thousand of the golden apples. The Minor- 
can population of St. Augustine had been accustomed to depend 
on the produce of their little groves of eight or ten trees, to pur- 
chase their coff"ee, sugar, and other necessaries from the stores ; 
they were left without resource. The wild groves suffered equally 
with those cultivated. The town of St. Augustine, that hereto- 

161 



1 62 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, 

fore appeared like a rustic village, its white houses peeping from 
the clustered boughs and golden fruit of their favorite tree, be- 
neath whose shade the foreign invalid cooled his fevered limbs, 
and imbibed health from the fragrant air, how is she fallen ! Dry, 
unsightly poles, with ragged bark, stick up around her dwellings, 
and where the mocking bird once delighted to build her nest, 
and tune her lovely song, ovv'ls now hoot at night, and sterile 
winds whistle through the leafless branches. Never was a place 
more desolate."* 

Many of the trees had attained a very large size and great age. 
A large number sent out sprouts from the roots, and if undis- 
turbed, many groves would have borne profitable crops in a few 
years. The scale insect, however, made its appearance in 1842 
in countless multitudes, blighting the groves throughout Florida. 
For twenty years it was a constant struggle, on the part of the few 
who retained their faith in the success of orange culture, to rid 
their groves of this destructive insect. Finally, nature provided in 
some way an exterminator of the insect, and from that time there 
has been no serious drawback to the culture of oranges in Flor- 
ida. Williams describes the inhabitants at this time as ''a 
temperate, quiet, and rather indolent people ; affectionate and 
friendly to each other, and kind to the few slaves they held. 
They mostly kept little stores, cultivated small groves or gardens, 
and followed fishing and hunting." Posey balls, masquerades, 
and sherivarees were their principal diversions. 

The posey dance of St. Augustine was introduced in the follow- 
ing manner: "The females of a family, no matter what their 
rank or station in life may be, erect in a room of their house a 

* Williams's History, page 18. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



163 



neat little altar, lit up with candles, and dressed with pots and 
festoons of flowers. This is understood by the gentlemen as a 
polite invitation to call and admire the taste of the fair architects. 
It is continued for several successive evenings ; in the meantime 
the lady selects from her visitors some happy beau, whom she de- 
lights to honor, and presents him with a bouquet of choice flow- 
ers. His gallantry is then put to the test ; should he choose to 
decline the profl'ered honor, he has only to pay the expenses of 
lighting up the altar. But if he accepts the full dignity off"ered 
him, he is king of the ball, which shortly succeeds, and the posey 
lass becomes queen, as a matter of course. The posey ball is a 
mixed assembly. People of all ranks meet here on a level, yet 
they are conducted with the nicest decorum, and even with polite- 
ness and grace. 

Sherivarees are parties of idle people, who dress themselves in 
grotesque masquerade, whenever a widow or widower is married. 
They often parade about the streets and play bufl"oon tricks for 
two or three days ; haunting the residence of the new married 
pair, and disturbing the whole city with noise and riot. 

The carnival is a scene of masquerading, which was formerly 
celebrated by the Spanish and Minorcan populations with much 
taste and gayety ; but since the introduction of an American popu- 
lation, it has during the whole winter season been prostituted to 
cover drunken revels, and to pass the basest objects of society 
into the abodes of respectable people, to the great annoyance of 
the civil part of the community."* 

These and other customs have long since ceased to exist, and 
many are already forgotten. One of these was '"shooting the 

* Williams's History, pp. 115 et seq. 



164 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Jews, " originally a religious ceremony, but afterwards a diversion. 
For many years it was the custom to hang effigies at the street 
corners and upon the plaza on the evening of Good Friday. 
When the bells in the cathedral, which are never rung during 
Good Friday, began on Saturday morning at ten o'clock to ring 
the Hallelujah, crowds of men in the streets commenced to shoot 
with guns and pistols at the hanging effigies. This was contin- 
ued until some unerring marksman severed the cord about the 
neck of the image, or perhaps it was riddled and shredded by the 
fusilade. 

The Spanish veil was until a late period the only covering for 
the head worn by the ladies of the town. A lady now living has 
described the disapproval manifested at the appearance of the first 
bonnet in church. Great indignation was expressed, and loud 
protests against the insult offered to the church and congre- 
gation by this supposed exhibition of ill-breeding and irrever- 
ence. 

In the memory of those now living wheeled vehicles within 
the gates were first allowed. Before that time all moving of 
goods was done in packs. The narrow streets without sidewalks 
evidently were not intended for the passage of carts and carriages. 
Saddle-horses were common, but their path was the center of the 
street, which was rendered hard and smooth with pounded co- 
quina, and kept so neat that the ladies wore on their feet only 
the thinnest of slippers. 

One of the ancient customs brought from the island of Mi- 
norca is yet continued. 

On the night before Easter Sunday the young men go about 
the city in parties serenading. Approaching the dwelling of some 
one whom they wish to favor with their song, or from whom they 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



i6s 



expect the favors asked in their rhyme, they knock gently upon 
the window. If their visit is welcome they are answered by a 
knock from within, and at once begin the following song said to 
be in the Mahonese dialect : 



"US GOIS. 

" Disciarem lu dol 
Cantarem aub' alagria, 
Y n'arem a da 
Las pascuas a Maria. 
O Maria ! 



[Translation.] 
"THE STANZAS. 

" Let us leave off mourning, 
Let us sing with joy, 
Let us go and give 
Our sahitation to Mary. 
O Mary ! 



" San Gabriel 

Qui portaba la ambasciada 

Des nostro rey del eel, 

Estaran vos preiiada. 

Ya omitiada 

Tuao vais aqui serventa, 

Fia del Deo contenta, 

Para fa lo que el vol. 

Disciarem lu dol, etc. 



" Saint Gabriel 
Brought the tidings 
That the King of Heaven 
Thou hadst conceived. 
Thou wert humble. 
Behold, here is the handmaid, 
Daughter of God, content 
To do what he will ! 

Chorus. — Let us leave off 
mourning:, etc. 



" Y a milla nit 
Pariguero vos regina— 
A un Deo infinit — 
Dintra una establina. 
Y a milla dia, 
Que los angels von cantant 
Par y abondant, 
De la gloria de Deo sol. 
, Disciarem lu dol, etc. 



" And at midnight 
She gave birth to the child- 
The infinite God- 
In a stable. 
At mid-day. 
The angels go singing 
Peace and abundance, 
And glory to God alone. 
Chorus. 



i66 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



" Y a Libalem, 
Alia la terra santa, 
Nus nat Jesus, 
Aub' alagria tanta ; 
Infant petit 

Que tot lu mon salvaria. 
Y ningu y bastaria 
Nu mes un Deo sol. 

Disciarem lu del, etc. 



" In Bethlehem, 
In the Holy Land, 
Was born the Saviour, 
With great joy ; 
The little child 

Who all the world would save, 
Which no one could accomplish 
But God alone. 
Chorus. 



" Cuant de Orion lus 
Tres reys la stralla veran, 
Deo omnipotent 
Adora lo vingaran. 
Un present inferan 
De mil encens y or, 
A lu benuit seno, \ 

Que conesce cual se vol. 
Disciarem lu dol, etc. 



" When in the East 
Three kings the star did see, 
God omnipotent 
To adore they came. 
A present they made him 
Of myrrh and gold. 
To the blessed Saviour, 
Who knows every one. 
Chorus. 



" Tot fu gayant 
Para cumple la prumas, 
Y lu Esperit sant 
De un angel fau gramas, 
Gran foe ences, 
Que crama lu curagia. 
Damos da lenguagia 
Para fe lo que Deo vol. 
Disciarem lu dol, etc. 



"All burning with zeal 
To accomplish the promises, 
The Holy Spirit 
From an angel was sent forth. 
A great fire was kindled, 
And courage inflamed him. 
God give us language 
To do thy will. 
Chorus. 



" Cuant trespasa 

De quest mon nostra Sefiora, 

Al eel s' empugia. 

Sun fil la matescia ora, 

O, Emperadora ! 



"When we have passed 
From this world, our Lady, 
To heaven we are raised. 
Your Son, at the same hour, 
O Queen, 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



167 



Que del eel san eligida, 
Lii rosa florida, 
Me resplenden que un sol. 
Disciaiem lu dol, etc. 

*' Y el teicer groin 
Que Jesus resunta, 
Deo y aboroma. 
Que la moit triumfa. 
De alii se balla 
Para perldra Lucife 
An tot a sen penda, 
Que de nostro ser al sol. 
Disciarem lu dol," etc. 



Who art of Heaven the choicest 
Blooming rose ! 
More brilliant than the sun. 
Chorus. 



On the third day 
Our Jesus arose, 
The celestial God 
Over death triumphant. 
From hence he has gone 
To overcome Satan 
Throughout the whole world. 
Our protector and guide. 
Chorus. 



After this hymn the following stanzas, soliciting the customary 
gifts of cakes or eggs, are sung : 



" Lu cet gois vam cantant, 
Regina celestial. 
Damos pan y alagria ! 
Yabonas festas tingan ; 

Y vos da sus bonas festas, 
Damos dines de sus nous, 
Sempre tarem lus neans Uestas 
Para recibi un grapat de nes. 
Y, el giorn de pascua florida 
Alagramos y, giuntament. 

As qui es mort par dar nos vida 

Y via glorosiamente, 

A questa casa esla empedrada, 
Bien halla que la empedro. 
San amo de aquesta casa 
Baldria duna un do, 



" These seven stanzas sung, 

Celestial queen 

Give us peace and joy ! 

May you enjoy a good feast ; 

We wish a happy time. 

Give us of your bounty. 

We always have our hands ready 

Thy bounty to receive. 

Let us now the Easter feast 

Together enjoy. 

He died to save us ; 

Let us be joyful. 

This house is walled round. 

Blessed be he who walled it about. 

The owner of this house 

Ought to give us a token, 



l58 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Formagiada o empanada. Either a cake or a tart. 

Cucutta a flao, We like anything, 

Cual se val casa sue grada, So you say not no." 

Sol que no rue digas que no." * -js- * * * 

The shutters are then opened by the people within, and a sup- 
ply of cakes or other pastry is dropped into a bag carried by one 
of the party, who acknowledge the gift in the following lines, and 
then depart : 

" Aquesta casa reta empedrada, " This house is walled round, 

Empedrada de cuastro vens, Walled round on four sides. 

Sun amo de aquesta casa, The owner of this house 

Es omo de compliment." Is a polite gentleman." 

If nothing is given, the last line reads thus : 

*' No es homo de compliment." " Is not a polite gentleman.*' 

This song is repeated throughout the city until midnight. To 
the listener it has a peculiar fascination like some of the tunes 
from popular operas, keeping one awake to listen to its strains, 
even after many repetitions have rendered the singing monot- 
onous. 

The walls of the United States barracks are probably the oldest 
structures in the place. An old house on Hospital Street, torn 
down in 187 1, when Mr. Pendleton built a very pretty cottage 
upon the same ground, was said by old residents to have been 
the oldest house in the town. The former residence of the at- 
torney-general during the English possession stood just south of 
the Worth House on the corner of Bay and Green Streets. This 
was a very old structure, though built in too costly a manner to 
have been one of the earliest buildings, one of which in English 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1 69 

times still bore the date 15/1. The house was built by a Span- 
iard named Ysnada. Its beams were made of a wood brought 
from Cuba, which resembled our royal palm in being susceptible 
of taking a high polish. The staircases, wainscoting, and panels 
were of lignum -vitse. For many years the house stood in too 
dilapidated a condition for occupancy. Finally the wood was 
torn out by curiosity hunters and dealers, and made into canes 
and other mementoes of ''the oldest house in St. Augustine." 

The present sea-wall was built between 1835 and 1843, under 
the superintendence of Colonel Dancey, now living at his orange 
grove called Buena Vista, on the St. Johns River. He was then 
a captain in the U. S. Army. The wall is ten feet above low- 
water mark, seven feet thick at the base, and three feet wide on 
top, capped with granite, and extends along the whole front of 
the city, from the old fort on the north to the barracks on the 
south, about three-quarters of a mile in length. Opposite the 
plaza the wall forms a basin for small boats. Under Colonel 
Dancey the government spent three appropriations of fifty thou- 
sand dollars each, having spent twenty thousand dollars previously 
in preparation for the work. Captain Benham spent two appro- 
priations of fifty thousand dollars each in covering the wall with 
granite slabs, as it was found that the coquina was rapidly wear- 
ing away under the tread of pedestrians using the wall as a prom- 
enade. Much of the pleasure of this otherwise delightful prome- 
nade is marred by the narrowness of the curbing, making the 
passing difficult. This feature is said to be unobjectionable to 
lovers, who are credited with the opinion that to see St. Augus- 
tine aright it is necessary to promenade the sea-wall by moon- 
light, viewing the rippling waters of the bay, with the roar of the 
surf on the neighboring beach as an interlude to the sweeter 



1^70 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

music of their own voices. Colonel Dancey built the present 
causeway leading to the depot in 1837 at the expense of the 
United States. His successor, Captain Benham, superintended 
the construction of the water battery at the fort, and other repairs 
made to the property of the United States within the city. 

Under the dominion of the United States, St. Augustine soon 
became a health and pleasure resort. Without manufactures, 
with, as yet, no products of agriculture for export, its fine port is 
destitute of commerce, and its easy-going population have ever 
since depended upon the attractions offered by their city to inva- 
lids and persons of fortune, for the means with which to procure 
the necessaries and luxuries which its inhabitants enjoy in a fair 
measure. Strangers often wonder how the town is supported, but 
upon investigation it is found that the frugality of the people is 
remarkable. Their independence comes from what they save 
rather than from what they ear.i. While there is little wealth 
among its citizens, there is little actual want. The many girls 
and young ladies always dress with neatness and taste, and many 
earn the means to support themselves by braiding palmetto for 
hats and baskets, making feather flowers, shell, and fish-scale 
ornaments, and bouquets of the native grasses. The town 
has long been noted for the number and health of its young 
children. 

In 1834 the city contained 1,739 inhabitant^, ^f whom 498 
were males, 519 females, 151 free colored persons, and 571 slaves. 
Of these, 10 were lawyers, 3 doctors, i printer, 7 dry-goods deal- 
ers, 6 keepers of boarding-houses, 1 3 grocers, i painter, 7 carpen- 
ters, 4 masons, 2 blacksmiths, i gunsmith, 2 shoemakers, i 
baker, 2 tailors, i tanner, and 5 cigar-makers. The present pop- 
ulation of the citv is, bv the census of 1880, about 3,300, of 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



171 



which about the same number follow the above callings as in 
1834, with the exception of lawyers and grocers, of whom there 
are not more than half the former number. There is no bank in 
the city, its place being supplied by the money-order department 
of the post-office. The colored population are much more intel- 
ligent, better educated, and generally superior to the individuals 
of that unfortunate race found in other parts of the South. This 
is partly owing to the large number of free negroes here before the 
Emancipation, and also to the advantages they have derived from 
contact with the visitors and residents coming from all parts of 
the country. In 1843 ^^^^ P^^^ Bryant remarked the fact above 
stated, saying, ' ' In the colored people whom I saw in the Cath- 
olic church I remarked a more agreeable, open, and gentle phys- 
iognomy than I have been accustomed to see in that class."* 

Many of the most interesting old structures have, unfortunately, 
been torn down. As these attractive old relics of antiquity are 
swept away, some ignorant iconoclast bids the people rejoice 
over a new "city improvement," forgetting that there are 
many modern cities in America, and but one "ancient city." 
The building now used as a post-office has, in this way, been re- 
modeled from a quaint and interesting old Spanish structure, 
with its court-yard and balconies, into a commonplace modern 
structure. Even the old coquina lunette standing in the same 
yard on the corner of King and Tolomato Streets had to succumb 
to personal interest and the demand for " improvements," and 
was swept away, thus depriving the city of one of its most attract- 
ive mementoes. 

The fort, the Spanish monument, the cathedral, and the city 



* Fairbanks's History, p. 197. 



1/2 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



gates yet remain, preserved from the hands of vandals. The city 
has lately repaired the sentry-boxes, constructed in the pilasters 
of the city gate, and doubtless from this time on there will be an 
effort made to preserve all of the old relics yet remaining. 

In 1879 the Ladies' Memorial Association obtained permission 
of the city to remove to the plaza a monument that had been 
erected on St. George Street to the memory of the soldiers of St. 
Augustine and vicinity who died in the late "war between the 
States." This monument now stands near the east end of the 
plaza, and preserves the names of tlixDse whose memory it is 
intended to perpetuate, engraved upon two marble slabs set into 
the masonry. Its inscriptions are as follows : 

''Our dead." 

"Erected by the Ladies' Memorial Association of St. Augus- 
tine, Fla., A.D. 1872." 

"In Memoriam. Our loved ones who gave their lives in the 
service of the Confederate States." 

In the military cemetery near the barracks are three small 
pyramids built of masonry and whitewashed, marking the place 
where are interred the remains of Major Dade and his one hun- 
dred and seven comrades massacred by the Indians near the With- 
lacoochee River, on the -28th of December, 1835. They were 
buried on the battle-field by a detachment that was sent out for 
their succor, but arrived too late. Upon the removal of their re- 
mains to St. Augustine, these pyramids were erected, and also a 
handsome monument. The monument is of marble, a broken 
pillar or shaft upon a square pedestal, with inscriptions on the 
four faces. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1 73 

On the first we read : 

''This monument, in token of respectful and affectionate re- 
membrance by their comrades of all grades, is committed to the 
care and preservation of the garrison of St. Augustine." 
On another the following : 

''A mute record of all the officers who perished, and are here 
and elsewhere deposited, as also a portion of the soldiers, has been 
prepared and placed in the office of the adjutant of the post, where 
it is hoped it will be carefully and perpetually preserved. " 

On another : 

' ' The conflict in which so many perished in battle, and by 
disease, commenced 25th December, 1835, and terminated 14th 
August, 1842/' 

On the last : 

** Sacred to the memory of the officers and soldiers killed in 
battle and died in service during the Florida War." 

Near this cemetery is the post hospital, a convenient and airy 
building. A large building on St. George Street, erected in 1874, 
is occupied by the society of nuns called Sisters of St. Joseph. 
Many of the female children of the city are taught by the sisters 
in this building, and children from abroad are also received, and 
lodge in the building. The nuns of St. Augustine have always 
had the reputation of making fine lace-work, and much of their 
work is purchased by visitors. 

A large and comfortable building was erected a few years since 
as a home for aged and infirm colored persons. It stands back 
from King Street just west of Santa Maria Creek. Doctor Bron- 
son and Mr. Buckingham Smith were chiefly instrumental in 
erecting the building and furnishing the endowment, which is 



1^4 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

managed by a board of trustees. The general management of 
the Home and its inmates is given to a matron chosen by the 
ladies of the different church parishes, subject to the approval of 
the board of trustees. 

The wooden building upon a circular foundation of coquina 
standing in the bay north of the basin is the bath-house. In the 
winter it is kept heated, and warm salt-water baths are furnished 
to visitors. During the summer it is liberally patronized for swim- 
ming baths by the citizens of the place and many summer visit- 
ors, who come from the interior of the State to spend the hot 
months at the seaside. Probably a larger proportion of the 
ladies of St. Augustine know how to swim than of any other 
place in the country. 

Within the last few years there have been a number of hand- 
some houses built in the city by wealthy gentlemen who occupy 
them during the winter season. Mr. H. P. Kingsland of New 
York has a fine residence north of the gates upon the shell road. 
This is probably the most expensive of the houses built by non- 
residents, though the fine house built by the late Hy. Ball upon 
his estate on Tolomato Street is said to have cost a large sum of 
money. The grounds and orange grove on this place were very 
attractive during the life of Mr. Ball, and it is a place much fre- 
quented by visitors. 

Mr. Geo. L. Lorillard has lately purchased the "■ Stone " man- 
sion on St. George Street, and is ornamenting the grounds, and 
otherwise making the place more attractive. 

Mr. Tyler, Mr. Ammidown, Mr. Howard, Mr. Bronson, Mr. 
Alexander, and Mr. Wilson each have fine residences on St. 
George Street south of the plaza. Mr. Edgar has a handsome 
coquina house on the bay, while the residence of ex-Senator Gil- 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



175 



bert on the south, and the residence and orange grove of Dr. 
Anderson on the north, are sure to attract the notice of the 
stranger entering the city from the causeway. All of these resi- 
dences have attractive grounds, ornamentally laid out, and artisti- 
cally adorned, containing a great variety of most beautiful roses 
and ornamental plants and flowers. The roses especially are con- 
genial to the soil and climate, and are in the early winter 
months most attractive in their wealth of bloom. This shrub in 
some of its varieties, here attains the proportions of a tree. The 
rose tree in the garden of Mr. Oliveros was fifteen feet high, ris- 
ing from a stock twenty-one inches in circumference, and its 
branches covered a space eighteen feet in diameter. The tree is 
dead, but the stump is still to be seen. 

The shell road extends for about a mile north of the city, and 
is much used during the winter season. Carriages, buggies, and 
saddle-horses for hire are usually standing at all hours in front of 
the hotels or near the plaza* and on fair days are well patronized. 
Mr. Williams and Mr. Hildreth, north of the city, have attractive 
places which are much visited by tourists. When the tide is low 
there is a short but quite hard drive along the edge of the St. Se- 
bastian River. There is an interesting drive to a suburb west of 
the city called Ravenswood, where is a spring called from the 
famous Ponce de Leon. A great natural curiosity is a large 
spring in the ocean about three miles off the coast near Matanzas 
Inlet, eighteen miles south of St. Augustine. This spring has 
been described in the publications of the U. S. Coast Survey. 
There is a comfortable hotel kept by Mr. Darius Allen at Matan- 
zas, which is often filled with hunting and fishing parties. The 
house stands on the narrow sand reef between the INtatanzas River 
and the ocean. 



176 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



At the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion the Union senti- 
ment, which existed among a considerable portion of the com- 
munity, was stifled by the taunts of cowardice and the popular 
frenzy for secession. A number of the inhabitants, being unable 
to make their influence felt at the election of delegates, prepared 
and had presented to the convention that passed the ordinance of 
secession a letter of protest against such a course. The only 
effect of this letter was to place the signers in such a position that 
they were advised to volunteer at once to serve in the Confederate 
army. 

In March, 1862, the United States forces took possession of the 
town, which they held until the close of the war. The city was 
taken by a naval force under command of Lieut. S. F. Du Pont, 
afterward Admiral Du Pont. 

In his report to the Secretary of the Navy, Flag-Officer Du Pont 
speaks of the occupation of the place in a tone exhibiting less of 
exultation than sadness, that a place which had enjoyed so many 
favors at the hands of the government should have taken part in 
an attempt at its overthrow. 

It is perhaps too soon after the close of the struggle to discuss 
the events of that period. As a matter of history, however, I give 
the report of Commander Rodgers, who received the surrender of 
the town. In transmitting the report, Flag-Officer Du Pont adds : 
"The American flag is flying once more over that old city, raised 
by the hands of its own people." 

The following is Commander Rodgers's report : 

"United States Flag-ship Wabash, 
"Off St. Augustine, Florida, March 12, 1862. 
"Sir : Having crossed the bar with some difficulty, in obedi- 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. lyy 

ence to your orders, I approached St. Augustine under a flag of 
truce, and as I drew near the city a white flag was hoisted upon 
one of the bastions of Fort Marion. 

"Landing at the wharf and inquiring for the chief authorities 
I was soon joined by the mayor, and conducted to the City Hall, 
where the municipal authorities were assembled. 

" I informed them that having come to restore the authority of 
the United States, you had deemed it more kind to send an un- 
armed boat to inform the citizens of your determination than to 
occupy the town at once by force of arms ; that you were desir- 
ous to calm any apprehension of harsh treatment that might exist 
in their minds, and that you should carefully respect the persons 
and property of all citizens who submitted to the authority of the 
United States ; that you had a single purpose — to restore the 
state of aflairs which existed before the Rebellion. I informed the 
municipal authorities that so long as they respected the authority 
of the government we serve, and acted in good faith, municipal 
affairs would be left in their own hands, so far as might be con- 
sistent with the exigencies of the times. 

" The mayor and council then informed me that the place had 
been evacuated the preceding night by two companies of Florida 
troops, and that they gladly received the assurance I gave them, 
and placed the city in my hands. I recommended them to hoist 
the flag of the Union at once, and in prompt accordance with the 
advice, by order of the mayor the national ensign was displayed 
from the flagstaff of the fort. * * * * 

"I called upon the clergymen of the city requesting them to 
reassure the people, and to confide in our kind intentions toward 
them. 

''About fifteen hundred people remain in St. Augustine, about 
8* 



178 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



one-fifth of the inhabitants having fled. I believe that there are 
many citizens who are earnestly attached to the Union, a large 
number who are silently opposed to it, and a still larger number 
who care very little about the matter. 

"I think that nearly all of the men acquiesce in the condition 
of affairs we are now establishing. 

"There is much violent and pestilent feeling among the 
women. They seem to mistake treason for courage, and have a 
theatrical desire to figure as heroines. Their minds have doubt- 
less been filled with the falsehoods so industriously circulated 
in regard to the lust and hatred of our troops. On the night 
before our arrival, a party of women assembled in front of the 
barracks and cut down the flag-staff, in order that it might 
not be used to support the old flag. The men seemed anxious 
to conciliate in every way. There is a great scarcity of pro- 
visions in the place. There seems to be no money, except the 
wretched paper currency of the Rebellion, and much poverty ex- 
ists. In the water-battery at the fort are three fine army thirty-two- 
pounders, of 7,000 pounds, and two eight-inch seacoast hov/itzers, 
of 5,600 pounds, with shot and some powder. There are a num- 
ber of very old guns in the fort, useless and not mounted. 

*'I have the honor to be very respectfully, 

"C. R. P. RODGERS, Commander. 
. ''Flag Officer, S. F. Du Pont, 

" Commanding S. Atlantic Blockading Station." 

Mr. Christobal Bravo, an old and much-respected citizen of 
the place, who is still alive, was the mayor who surrendered 
the town. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. ijg 

Immediately after the close of the Rebellion, real estate in the 

city possessed very little value. Within a short time, however, 

''as a few wealthy men began to secure sites for winter residences, 

the prices suddenly leaped to the full value, and, in many cases, 

fictitious values, which they have since maintained. 

The climate of St. Augustine is unsurpassed by that of any 
location in the world. The mass of testimony to its healthfulness 
and agreeableness is constantly accumulating, and dates from its 
first settlement. 

The extreme old age attained by the aborigines in Florida has 
been referred to in the extract from Laudonnere. Romans men- 
tions a man, eighty-five years old, who had gone five miles on foot 
to catch fish, while his mother was meantime busy preparing bread. 

The following quaint testimony is from ''Romans's History": 

"Before I quit this subject of the air, I cannot help taking 
notice of a remark, which I have read somewhere, made by Dr. 
James McKenzie, w^hich is, 'The soon molding of the bread, 
moistness of sponge, dissolution of loaf sugar, and rusting of 
metals, are marks of a bad air.' Now every one of those marks 
are more to be seen at St. Augustine than in any place I ever 
was at. And yet I do not think that on all the continent 
there is a more healthy spot. Burials have been less frequent 
here than anywhere else, where an equal number of inhabitants 
are found ; and it was remarked, during my stay there, that, when 
a detachment of the royal regiment of artillery once arrived there 
in a sickly state, none of the inhabitants caught the contagion, 
and the troops themselves soon recruited. The Spanish inhab- 
itants lived here to a great age, and certain it is, that the people 
of the Havannah looked on it as their Montpellier, frequenting it 
for the sake of health." 



l3o HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Forbes remarks that the Ninth Regiment of British troops 
never lost a man by natural death during the eight months they 
were quartered in the town. The undeviating salubrity ' ' of St. 
Augustine, under the British flag, was certainly augmented by 
the perfect cleanliness and neatness which was the characteristic 
of the town during that epoch, and that it continued so while 
the buildings crumbled into ruins over the heads of the indo- 
lent Spaniards, and the dirt and nuisance augmented in every lot 
is an additional proof of the natural healthfulness of the place." * 

From October to June the weather is temperate, the thermom- 
eter having a mean of fifty-eight degrees in the winter, and sixty- 
eight degrees in the spring. During the winter months there are 
frequent cloudy days, and usually several cold storms in a season. 
From twenty- five years' observations Dr. Baldwin, of Jacksonville, 
prepared a table showing the average of clear days in January to 
be 20y\; February, 19-j-V; March, 20^-^; April, 25. For the 
whole year, 235 clear days. 

The climate of St. Augustine is sufficiently cold in winter to 
brace up the constitution, after being relaxed by summer heats. 
On the other hand, it is sufficiently warm to entice the invalid to 
be out of doors, and to present opportunities for open-air exer- 
cises. The east winds that prevail are tempered by the proximity 
of the Gulf Stream, a vast volume of warm water moving along 
the coast of Florida, whose effect is felt thousands of miles 
farther north in modifying the temperature of the British Isles. 

The peculiar location of St. Augustine, upon a narrow penin- 
sula, provides a natural drainage that renders the place particu- 
larly desirable as a health resort. Through the winter rains are 

* Forbes's Sketches. 



HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. l8l 

infrequent, that being the dry season in Florida ; whatever rain 
falls, however, is immediately absorbed by the sandy soil, and, in 
many parts of the city, the slope of the surface carries the rain-fall 
immediately into the tide-water environing the city, before it has 
time to be absorbed by the earth. 

The mean relative humidity for the five winter months of sev- 
eral localities, recommended as health resorts, is shown in a table 
compiled by C. J. Kenworthy, M.D., of Jacksonville, Fla., and 
published by him in his work on "The Climatology of Florida." 
I take the liberty of using his data. The humidity of St. Augus- 
tine during the winter months is nearly the same as that of Jack- 
sonville. At Mentone and Cannes the mean relative humidity 
for the five months, beginning in November, is. . 72^ per cent. 

Breckenridge, Minn 79to" 

Bismark, Dak , 76^^ 

Nassau, N. P 73^ 

Punta Rassa, Fla. (on the Gulf coast) 72to 

Jacksonville, " 68^^ 

Thus it will be seen that, although we sometimes have fogs 
and cloudy weather, the humidity of the atmosphere is less than 
that of several noted health resorts, some of which are at a con- 
siderable elevation. Finally, the medical attendance and sup- 
ply of nourishing and appetizing food available at St. Augustine 
are all that could be desired. The hotels and boarding-houses are 
excellent; while the opportunities and inducements for open-air 
recreations and exercises are superior. 

With the close connections furnished by the lines of railway 
lately completed to Jacksonville, that city will doubtless become 
the objective point of the Florida-bound tourist. At that place 
time-tables can be obtained of the river steamers and the railwav 



1 32 HISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

from Tocoi, on the St. Johns River, to St. Augustine ; and, by 
correspondence, accommodations can be secured in advance, dur- 
ing the season, when the hotels and boarding-houses of St. Au- 
gustine are likely to be crowded. 

All visitors to Florida, and especially those who come for 
recreation, should be sure to spend a portion of the season, at 
least, in St. Augustine. 



THE 

SOUVENIR ALBUM 

OF 

VIEWS IN ST. AUGUSTINE 

PREPARED BY THE CELEBRATED 

LOUIS GLASER, OF LEIPSIC, 

And Copyrighted. 



THIS CONVENIENT LITTLE ALBUM CONTAINS 

VIEWS OF FOURTEEN OF THE MOST INTER- 
ESTING SCENES AND STRUCTURES 

IN THE 

"ANCIENT CITY;" 

Embracing : 
THE CITY GATES ; THE CATHEDRAL ; THE OLD FORT AND 
WATER BATTERY, FROM THE BAY; THE FORT AND 
THE HARBOR, SHOWING THE LIGHT-HOUSE ; THE PLAZA 
DE LA CONSTITUCION, SHOWING THE SPANISH MONU- 
MENT ; THE NEW LIGHT-HOUSE ON ANASTATIA ISL- 
AND; THE SPANISH COAT-OF-ARMS OVER THE EN- 
TRANCE TO THE FORT; A VIEW UP ST. GEORGE 
STREET ; THE OLD FORT AT MATANZAS ; THE BAY, 
LOOKING NORTH, SHOWING THE OLD FORT ; A BIRD'S- 
EYE VIEW OF THE CITY, LOOKING SOUTH, TAKEN 
FROM THE LOOK-OUT TOWER ON THE OLD FORT ; THE 
OLD SPANISH LIGHT-HOUSE W^HICH FELL IN 1880 ; THE 
ARCHES SUPPORTING THE BALCONY OF AN OLD SPAN- 
ISH RESIDENCE ; AND A DOUBLE-PAGE VIEW OF THE 
CITY FROM THE BAY, SHOWING ONE MILE OF ITS 
FRONTAGE. 

A most acceptable present, and a memento of the 
oldest town in the United States. 

Sent, post-paid, on receipt of one dollar. 
Address, 

W. W. DEWHURST, 

St. Augustine, Florida. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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